A BUSINESS owner who set up the first tahini factory in the UK hopes to save his company amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Jean Boulos runs the Tahini Royal factory in Burgess Hill as well as The Station convenience store in Hove Park Villas.

Jean said: “I’ve got a really good factory and a unique business in Tahini Royal, but it’s becoming very hard to carry on during Covid-19.

“It is the only tahini factory in the UK and we sold our own property to build it.

“We can say we are the only factory that makes tahini with 100 per cent sesame.”

Jean set up Tahini Royal with his brothers Karim and Anton in 2018 and the trio have built up a lot of experience in the wholesale food industry since the early 1990s.

Five years ago they realised all of the tahini in the UK was imported and was often of poor quality, with additives such as whiteners, preservatives and even peanuts, which could be dangerous for allergy sufferers.

The brothers decided to create a premium version of the sesame condiment, which is a key ingredient in hummus and other Middle Eastern dishes such as baba ghanoush and halva.

Tahini Royal became the first UK manufacturer of the oily spread, producing it purely from high quality sesame seeds with no additives.

But the company, which prides itself on its quality and mostly supplies the hospitality sector, has suffered during the pandemic.

Jean said: “We had to close the factory when the lockdown was imposed as the distancing regulations were very hard to implement for our employees.

“That’s not to mention that sales mostly depend on the hospitality sector, which we cannot see opening in the very near future.

“But we do have hope. This morning I had a large order from a hummus factory in London.

“It’s also amazing the support we’ve had from locals buying our product in Sussex.”

Tahini Royal is available to buy from Jean’s convenience store in Hove Villas, as well as Taj the Grocer in Western Road. The company normally supplies to food businesses in Brighton, including FilFil Cafe in Gardner Street, as well as some of the best Lebanese restaurants in London.

Jean added: “We used to supply restaurants all over Europe before lockdown – in France, Monaco, Germany.

“But people are helping a lot by ordering through our website and they are willing to pay more for our product. Despite Covid-19, we have been able to keep all our prices the same and are not abusing the market crisis, unlike some others.”

For more information or to place an order, visit tahiniroyal.co.uk.

At The Argus, we are championing the work of traders during the coronavirus pandemic as part of our #BackingSussexBusiness campaign. We are always interested to hear how the community is coming together in this crisis. If you know of a local business battling to do all it can in these tough times and/or offering support to the local community, please get in touch at laurie.churchman@theargus.co.uk and rose.lock@theargus.co.uk.