TM Foods ‘beet’ their way to the top
BONUS recently spoke to TM Foods (Trymoss Foods) on the challenges they had to face in order to become successful.
POLOKWANE – A business is an endeavour that can often be fruitless and tiring but with enough persistence, can become a success.
“Having faced several challenges of work space jumping from garage to garage my mother, brother and I struggled to get TM Foods off the ground. We were renting out garages from house to house trying to land business space for the company until we landed a space at Kings Complex in Seshego,” said TM Foods co-founder, finance and HR manager, Donald Monyai.
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According to Donald, TM Foods co-founder and CEO, Tryphina Mosomane, started the business in 2016 when she was experiencing a turbulent time in her financial and emotional development.
“She used to spend a lot of time with a lady, aunty Parvin, who advised her on life and on how to overcome situations. She then taught her a beetroot salad recipe. Tryphina then thought of ways of making the salad stand out and contacted her brother, Tlou Mosomane, to help her develop a strategy on starting a business and, as they say, the rest is history,” he explained.
After realising the popularity of the beetroot salad, the trio decided to go back to the drawing board to come up with recipes to not only be a step ahead of their competitors, but to also penetrate the market.
“We now offer a range of six beetroot flavors which we make ourselves. We offer a wide variety of beetroot flavours from garlic, hot, chutney, plain, ginger and cinnamon. The ingredients infused in the beetroot have great health benefits so our clients can be guaranteed that they gain more than just satisfying their love for the beetroot salad but also help to enhance their immune systems.
“We are a social market and we are not only selling the beetroot to make money or profit, we are also reaching out a hand to the community at large whereby we aim to uplift the community and especially empower the farmers who form the core basis of our business as they supply us with the beetroot we need to make TM Foods grow and succeed.
“With that being said, we would like to encourage them to aim at producing food that is organic and healthy so we can in turn use those raw vegetables which will lead to all the stakeholders celebrating success.
“We also try and develop as well as create market lineages between farmers and wholesalers, as well as train and equip those individuals who like to get into the food and beverage business or industry with the relevant skills and knowledge they need,” Donald added.
Delighted at the growth of the business, Tryphina attributes this success to the grace of God.
“We are happy with what we have achieved so far. It has been a road of trouble, pain and challenges, but through perseverance and the grace of God, we have managed to break every limitation and rise to the occasion every time.
“I thank our staff and their families for their continued support to the company and vision, sermons of our pastor, Vusi Mashabane, and pastor Molatelo Mashabane (Church on the Hill Polokwane) who continue to push us to greatness.
“Our vision is to see us supplying 70% of South Africa’s retail stores with our products in the next five years and see ourselves introducing new products as part of our business development and growth,” she explained.
The wide variety of TM Foods beetroot is now available at various supermarkets in and around Polokwane including Thronhill Spar, Goseame, OK Foods, Nesta Foods, Paris Supermarket and Hypersave.
