Offaly entrepreneur secures shelf space at London's famous Harrods

SECURING shelf space in one of the world’s most famous retail emporiums needs a combination of an impressive product line and producers with the confidence to convince top-level management that their products will keep the shelf stackers busy.

And that is the very recent achievement of a Co. Offaly man and his Saudi Arabian business partner. In an era when small producers, across a wide range of industries, are in daily competition with the financial and production clout of multi-nationals, the success of any small producer, depends on a deep seated belief in what they are offering the market and a determination to compete.

The Cameler Spice Co, is now retailing their blended range of spices through Harrods, the renowned London store in the city’s elite Knightsbridge area, which draws an international customer base into the fashionable borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Heading up the venture from their base in Birmingham are Myles Grennan from Ross, Screggan, near Tullamore and Saudi Arabian-born Halle Faraje whose grandmother is from Co. Waterford.

Familiar spices like cloves, nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon and saffron, are being added to through the distinctive Cameler range by such exotic labels as Advich Berenj, Baqa, Mitmita, Quatre Epices, and these are just some of the offerings being put on shelves by the Cameler Company. S

pices are one of the oldest traded commodities that still exist today. In fact spices, were among some of the earliest goods transported and traded along the famous Silk Road as early as 2000 BC.

The blending of spices is central to the diversity of products on offer from the business, much of which depends of Halle’s experience sourcing spices from the Middle East and Asia. Myles is generous in his praise of her work - “To have worked on BBC Saturday Kitchen as a home economist, in high end restaurants and being an alumni of Leith’s Cookery School all sounds very impressive. But for me, it is her knowledge and work ethic that has made her the perfect business partner in the creation of a legacy brand”.

The directors found inspiration for their new company name from the Cameleers - camel drivers who navigated ancient trade routes and still travel across the Sahara, Egypt, and North Africa. Research by Myles has thrown up the occasional odd fact - “What many of us don’t realise is that spices were not used for flavour but in fact they were used to mask the smell of food that did not remain fresh as long journeys were made in sweltering temperatures”.

He added – “It is likely that the flavour aspect came as a happy follow on as time progressed”.

Myles, eldest son of Pius Grennan and the late Colette Grennan (nee Leavy), Tullamore, who qualified as a chef, and having worked in country houses and hotels in Ireland and France, she stepped away to rear her four sons. She died, aged 42, in 2002.

Myles left his corporate job in February 2020 after 20 years with the same company and while he had intentions of setting up a business, not much happened in the intervening months. Then in September 2020 a phone call from Halle led to conversations about creating something different around the centuries old spice business.

Their ideas and initiatives were exciting enough that they led to the creation of their range of products that began to attract attention at farmers markets in the West Midlands and the ultimate accolade of a “yes” from the discerning and hard-to-please buyers at Harrods.

“This is a very exciting breakthrough for us, and it is at the top end in terms of a vote of confidence in our products,” Myles remarked.