Patricia Forbes (left) was born in Karachi  into an Anglo-Indian family including a Irish grandfather.  She came to Britain in the sixties and trained as a chef, working in several London hotels. Later, with husband Andrew, they managed a hotel on Herm in the Channel islands and Leeds Castle in Kent.   Patricia has two children; Seraphina and Ben.

Maria Hellyer (right) comes from an Irish family and trained as a nurse before spending 19 years in Hong Kong with husband Tony where she ran her own property company.  She got into the food business on her return to the UK but became somewhat disillusioned with the world of E-numbers and non-dairy analogs (It is supposed to be cheese!).   Maria has three children Kate, Alex and Michael and grandson Joseph.

The idea for the company was born out of the frustration of not being able to buy a really good curry in a jar. As busy working mums, they presumed others must feel the same. The girls decided upon a small venture targeting fine food stores county fares, fetes and consumer shows, like BBC Good Food Show.  Their plans for a small cottage industry soon changed however when they saw the demand for the products.  A small web-shop was developed to cope with repeat orders but this soon became swamped and a decision had to be made as to where the company was going…

The products are now sold nationally in the UK through top retailer - Waitrose and in a string of independent fine food stores such as Harrods and Whole Food Market, Booths, Costco et al.  Our export market covers North America, Middle East and Europe - a total of some 12 countries in all and through our links with Food From Britain, we are constantly adding new export partners.   In 2006 we won 'Best New Exporter' award from Food from Britain. 

We are one of the faces of HSBC business banking; our story has been the focus of two films, one made on location in the USA, that are shown on CNBC and the HSBC web site.

Our government trade advisor told us it would be 'impossible' to create a global brand without spending millions of pounds; well, we liked the idea of impossible and, with the support of the Department of Trade and Food Food From Britain, we set about doing just that.  It hasn't been easy!  It is often hard to see the line between family and business life and to get this far has taken tremendous courage and tenacity but for all that it has been and continues to be be tremendous fun...

Patricia Forbes and Maria Hellyer

Co- Founders of The British Curry Co