Ina Paarman, one of South
African’s most renowned food writers and television personalities, left her
position as a senior lecturer at the Cape Technikon to open her own cooking
school. Her business expanded alongside her culinary reputation and grew to the
point where Ina Paarman is a well-known household name – and her gourmet range
of dressings, sauces and seasonings add that final “secret ingredient” touch to
many of the meals that grace our tables.
Reading this makes moving
from being a home economist to award winning food journalist, author of eight
cook books and the name behind one of South African’s well-known living
culinary brands sound easy – but as Ina’s motto goes: nothing is easy.
Let’s start at the beginning
of Ina’s successful journey. She spent her formative years in Beaufort West in
the Karoo. At the age of 10 her young life took a dramatic turn when her father
died of a heart attack at the age of 36, forcing her mother to find a job and
become a career woman.
They moved to grandmother
Anna’s dairy farm near Germiston and Ina completed her schooling at Hoer Volkskool
Heidelberg in Gauteng. She enjoyed reading and participating in the drama group
and went on to pursue her childhood ambition to be a teacher, completing a
Higher Diploma in Education – her springboard to becoming a home economics
teacher.
In 1982 Ina felt she needed a
new challenge and with a little encouragement from her mother and support from
her husband Ted, she made the scary decision to leave her secure lecturing job
to start Ina’s Kitchen. The mother of two boys started her school, teaching the
art of cooking with a uniquely South African flavour, from a converted garage
in her home in Constantia in Cape Town.
From humble beginnings with six
students enrolled at Ina’s Kitchen it didn’t take too long before the classes
became so popular that Ina found there were not enough hours in the day to keep
up with demand. As a result of growing word-of-mouth referrals and writing a
regular food column in Die Burger Ina also became a respected South African
food authority. She went on to write for a number of other publications including
becoming the first food editor for Femina,
and won both the Mondi and Galliova awards for excellence in food journalism.
Ina also had her own regular
television cooking-slot on Good Morning South African and published the first
of eight cookbooks – Cook with Ina
Paarman. Her other books include The
Ina Paarman all colour cookbook, Real
food for real people, and five smaller publications: Cakes and desserts, What’s
for supper?, What’s cooking?, What’s on the braai?, and Summer food.
As
a sideline to her burgeoning home-based industry Ina developed a range of
seasonings, sauces, bake mixes and dressings, starting with a seasoned sea salt
using Grandma Anna’s recipe. The Paarman Foods brand that this evolved into
took off when the Paarman’s youngest son, Graham, a certified accountant,
joined Ina and her husband Ted in the business in 1990.
With
Graham’s help they revamped the packaging, aggressively expanded the product
range, hired factory premises in Diep River in Cape Town, and took on more staff
and secured a shelf space in major retailers such as Pick ‘n Pay and Spar.
In
1995 they stared exporting to the UK and Australia and in 1998 Ina and her team
began to supply customised products to restaurants and franchise groups – and
are the ninth largest grocery to supplier to Woolworths. Today the Ina Paarman
brand you see on the shelves is just 55% of the business.
When
Ina, now widowed, is not busy in the business she relaxes with a good book,
watches movies or heads out to do some gardening. She says she has a
consultative management style, and likes to brainstorm before they set about
doing anything to maintain a motivated team.
Paarman
Foods has grown into a significant player servicing local and international
supermarkets as well as the local food industry with a diverse range of gourmet
products. Although they produce food on a large-scale commercial basis they’ve
not lost the focus on producing healthy preservative-free food with an
authentic home-made taste – and that could well be the secret to their
continued success.
The
Ina Paarman trademark is all about authenticity. The ingredients they use are
of the best quality and Ina remains hands-on in the business – developing
recipes, controlling quality and taste and communicating personally with customers
and fans alike. She feels her secret to success likes in hard work, doing what she
loves, and accepting support from her family.
