Perteet and Fred Spencer, an African American couple from Chicago who own a food company called AYO Foods, have partnered with Whole Foods to bring their frozen traditional West African meals to several locations across the country!
The couple has always loved the joy of sharing great meals with their friends and family. With that, they came up with the idea of sharing excellent homemade recipes with more people. That's when they launched AYO Foods, wherein ayo is a Nigerian term for joy.
"As we thought about building a business together, nothing inspired us more than using our strong industry experiences to create these moments for others by sharing some of our family's favorite recipes that were under-represented in mainstream grocery stores," the Spencers told Black Enterprise.
Now, AYO Foods frozen meals are available in select Whole Foods locations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, aside from the Chicago-based grocery store, Green Grocer. So far, many Americans have tried their traditional West African meals and they are hoping many more would patronize it.
"We've watched the explosive growth of frozen as more and more premium items transform freezer doors across America," they added. "In many instances, the source of that growth is ethnic food as people look to explore the world one bite at a time. Frozen was a natural fit as an easy way for people to experience the flavors of West Africa."
For more information about AYO Foods, visit AYO-Foods.com