From Red Chilli to Sandbox: Bediatuo's wife shares successes and failures in her business

Lawyer and entrepreneur, Femi Asante, has shared how she started her food business, Red Chilli, in her grandmother’s kitchen and went on to establish other businesses in the hospitality industry.

Speaking in a podcast interview with The Peswa, she said Red Chilli was inspired by her childhood experiences, when she and her cousins would gather at their grandmother’s house for food after school.

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Femi said her grandmother’s home was a meeting place for the family, and she wanted to recreate that experience through her restaurant.

“When we went to Ghana International School (GIS), it was my cousins and me. My aunt taught at GIS at the time, so she used to have a Beatles car. So, after school, everybody went to my grandma's house for food,” she said.

She explained that the family would eat together at her grandmother’s house, where a nursery school was also run.

“So, Red Chilli was founded with that concept of going home and having grandma's soul food. So, yeah, that's how I started Red Chilli in my grandmother's kitchen.

“When I started Red Chilli, I was the same person going to the market, the same person doing finance. I was using an app called Wave, which helped me input all the entries and create the report on transactions,” she said.

Femi also spoke about Madame Butterfly, an Asian fusion restaurant she established which has since been permanently closed.

She said the 32-seat restaurant struggled to survive after the COVID-19 pandemic because its menu was not suitable for takeaway and delivery services.

She also explained that the business faced challenges with imported ingredients, forcing her to adjust the menu.

After renovating the restaurant, she said she tried to keep it running but eventually decided to close it to prevent further losses.

“And then I had just finished, like a renovation of the space. We tried it for like three months. We were like, okay, let's give it another six months. At that point, we just had to make the difficult decision to close because I can't make one problem a two-problem. If I'm already losing money, I'm not going to lose any more than I'm already losing,” she disclosed.

Beyond Red Chilli and Madame Butterfly, Femi said she established the School of Culinary Arts to train people for work in the hospitality industry.

She described the school as a successful venture that she ran alongside Madame Butterfly.

She later established Sandbox and, after two years, Makosa. She also started Yummy Meals, a business that provides meals for children in schools.

Femi said the idea for Yummy Meals came from her experience caring for her son, who had several food allergies and required careful attention to the ingredients in his meals.

She said the experience inspired her to provide meals that meet the needs of children at school.

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Femi said her long-term ambition is to build a hospitality brand founded by Africans that can compete with international businesses.

“I want to build a hospitality brand by Africans for the world. I want us to be able to have the same caliber of restaurants that we have or experience when we travel,” she added.

MAG/VPO

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