About Us
Fed up with bland, gloopy 'Asian' chuck-in sauces and pastes, Carl turned to the countless recipes gathered from his miss-spent youth lounging around in hammocks all over Asia. Written on the back of till receipts, postcards and torn out pages from the lonely planet, these recipes were begged and bribed from many a restaurant owner, chef and local guest house.
He went to work and quickly discovered that once all the prep was done and the various spices ground, pastes mixed and coconut grated and measured, these dishes could be knocked up in minutes. The taste and aromas coming from his frying pan took him straight back to the back streets of Penang, the beaches of Thailand and jungles of Sumatra.
Together with his friend Jim, sucker for a decent curry but clueless in the craft behind one, Boom Kitchen was born. The mission... To make scratch cooking their favourite curries fast, fun and free from artificial additives and preservatives.
Boom Kitchen Case History
October 2012 | Carl converts his lean-to into a curry lab and starts to formulate the purest ingredient blends for curry component cooking. It's only when Carl and Jim start using a charity shop briefcase to move coconut consignments across a make-shift production line that they realise they've been watching too much Breaking Bad.
May 2013 | Claire (Carl's fairer half and design gun) puts the finishing touches on our first edition pack designs.
July 2013 | We sell our first Korma, Bhuna and Jalfrezi curry kits up the road at Woolacombe open air market.
August 2013 | We recruit our first retailers Cawthornes Food Market in Braunton and Darts Farm Topsham. In the next two and half years we go on to sell over 7,000 curry kits in these two stores alone! If you'd have told us that then we'd have said you're a samosa short of a starter.
October 2013 | We unveil Lady Naga, Boom's twist on the vindaloo at Halloween. The combination of our Devon made Boom Base™ (curry gravy stock) with Naga Chillies grown by the South Devon Chilli Farm earns our Lady the nickname, 'Devonian Beauty'.
December 2013 | The Bell Inn Chittlehampton puts Boom on the menu. The big feed up is born.
April 2014 | We win a grant to help us beef up our kitchenware. We out grow the lean-to and move into a unit. Think Gus' super lab in Breaking Bad.
May 2014 | The Boom Kitchen range picks up its first awards courtesy of Taste of the West!
September 2014 | We go on to win Most Innovative Product of the year at West Country Food's equivalent of the Oscars. We forget to thank our Mums!
October 2014 | We're listed on Not On The High Street, Christmas sales go bonkers!
February 2015 | Boom Tarka Masala launched. We put our head above the parapet and risk litigation from every Dad in the South West by using the line 'like a Tikka Masala but a little 'otter'. We've been explaining it to bewildered customers ever since. You know... the Otter? Forget it.
May 2015 | From over a hundred producers we make it through to the final of The Seed Fund 2015. We lose out to worthy winners Tea Tonics - now Yuyo but find new 'yerba mates' (niche tea gag) in the process.
October 2015 | Claire ups our game with 2nd edition packaging. Personality and barcodes!
Feb 2016 | Russell Kane roasts us. If you're not familiar with his work that may sound odd.
March 2016 | We get paperwork for Boom Kitchen® trademark. The ® stands for rather expensive.
October 2016 | Breaking Booths. Our first successful brush with the big boys and our biggest listing to date.
November 2016 | We start our Karma Korma on pack promotion. Today we've raised over £1,000 (and counting) for Frank Water. Learn more on our Just Giving page.
