OUR STORY
Welcome to Good Oaks Foods – where passion and pride bring premium products from inspiring places, each one infused with the unique and tantalizing flavors of South Africa!
At Good Oaks Foods, our mission is to share our love for South Africa, its people, and the incredible products they make with our new home here in the United Kingdom. Our range of products, each one a testament to the quality and attention to detail that the brands we work with invest in everything they make, has been carefully curated. You will not find any preservatives; colourants or artificial flavours in any of the products we sell, only the finest, natural ingredients! We’re proud of this but we’re also proud of the story behind each of the products in our range.
South Africans are remarkably resilient and our pioneering spirit fuels innovation and a relentless pursuit of progress. No strangers to adversity or hardship, we thrive on challenges and are always looking for that one small thing that can push us forward. This spirit is deeply ingrained in the products we bring to you through Good Oaks Foods, a brand that is driven by passion and pride.
Like most cultures, food plays an important role in our social construct, and we’re particularly fond of social events that involve cooking outdoors. The South African “braai” (or BBQ) is ingrained in us from a very early age, and like fingerprints, every single one is unique, and everyone has their own special way of doing things. Whether it’s the way the fire is made (one of our fiercest debates revolves around the use of proper wood or charcoal…and never mention gas…that’s incendiary!!), the proper level of heat required to cook a steak to perfection, or simply the ambience created, everyone is different. One thing we can all agree on is that the quality of the ingredients is not negotiable, as is the need for a decent range of oil, salts, spices and rubs!! Like South Africans, diversity in taste is a key ingredient to any occasion involving food.
The other thing you will notice about our range is the innovation and quality. “N Boer maak n plan”. This Afrikaans saying literally translates to “A farmer makes a plan” and describes situations where there is no obvious or existing solution to an emerging or imminent problem. It has a similar meaning to the English phrase “Necessity is the mother of invention” and aptly captures the innovative spirit of the South African people. We’ll never give up; where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we will ALWAYS find a way. And so it is with Good Oaks products. We’re not supposed to produce Olive Oil; that’s for the Spanish and Italians, but we do, and we do it unbelievably well –take a look at some of the awards that our Rio Largo Olive oils have won and not just domestically either, these are international award-winning products! When we make hot sauce, we make HOT sauce! Not content with normal chilli, we somehow determined to find even hotter varieties and turn these into a mouth-wateringly good hot sauce that breaks the scale – our Fynbos Fine Foods African Ghost Pepper sauce rates a whopping 12 out of 10, and you can be sure there will be competition around the braai on this one!
Our suppliers take great care and pride in their work, and this is reflected in their products. Our range of Funky Ouma products is the culmination of decades of knowledge, experience, and passion for cooking.
One thing is certain: you will not be disappointed! Don’t take our word for it though, give it a try yourself!