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- 🚀 Your Weekly Slice of UK Consumer Startups #20
🚀 Your Weekly Slice of UK Consumer Startups #20
From home kitchen to Fortnum & Mason: meet the husband & wife duo redefining snacks ✨
The Startup Slice
September 14, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Hey 👋
We’re back with another roundup of the UK’s consumer startups. This week, MOMO kombucha brews up a mega raise, XOXO soda lands in the meal deal after only 2 years since launch, and we spotted some launches shaking up sleepy categories.
For our chat this week, we sat down with Steve, co-founder of Curry Smugglers, the snack brand putting Desi flavours in cans and culture at the centre of everything they do ✨
📱 From the Feed
 Josh & Lisa Puddle, Co-Founders of MOMO Kombucha | 💰 MOMO Kombucha raises £2M: Josh and Lisa Puddle close their biggest round yet. MOMO is doubling down on unfiltered, small-batch kombucha while aiming for £20M sales by 2028. They’re raising another £1M if you want to get involved! 🔥 XOXO SODA joins the Sainsbury’s Meal Deal: After just 2 years since launch, the prebiotic soda is now part of the UK’s most competitive shelf space. Shoppers can grab Watermelon and Tropical Fruits with lunch. |
👀 ICYMI: Brand Moves Worth Watching
 Curdi’s icon “Curdi B” is shaking up the cottage cheese category | 🧀 Curdi disrupts cottage cheese: Blue pots and bland branding are out. Watch out for newly launched Curdi’s bold designs and protein-packed cottage cheese shaking up a sleepy category. 👏 Mixtons clap back: A comment asked why their cans are so small, so Mixtons went out and ordered cocktails at London bars to prove you get more (or the same) cocktail for less. A clever & fun rebuttal. 🥃 Mull it Over, get nostalgic: Co-founder Alex’s speech impediment means he can’t pronounce the names of his drinks, but why not play into it? Love the video. Bring back adidas tracksuits! |
💡 Bitesize Playbook: Steve Sailopal, Co-Founder @ Curry Smugglers
We’ve had our eyes on Curry Smugglers for a while now. Their bold craft cans packed with Desi snacks have been popping up everywhere. When we saw Steve & Ruby had made it into the Fortnum & Makers cohort, we knew we had to drop by and hear their story.
Steve & Ruby, Co-Founders of Curry Smugglers (LTR)
What is Curry Smugglers and how did it start?
Curry Smugglers is a Margate-based snack brand bringing Indian street snacks to life in bold craft cans. It began from our family’s frustration at seeing Asian snacks in supermarkets in bland packaging that didn’t reflect us.
We wanted to celebrate our heritage properly, so we chose craft beer cans, packed them with the flavours we grew up on, and gave them branding that reflects our vibrant culture.
Why put Desi snacks in a beer can?
I’m a brewer by trade, so cans have always been around the house. One day the light-bulb moment hit: why not put Desi snacks in a can? It felt like the perfect way to shake up the boring, bland packaging that never reflected our culture.
Cans are bold, disruptive, and instantly grab attention, while keeping snacks fresher for longer. They’re infinitely recyclable, making them a more sustainable choice than plastic. For us it’s not a gimmick it’s playful, practical, and rooted in pride. Desi snacks finally get packaging as vibrant and celebrated as the flavours inside.
What did getting into Fortnum & Mason mean for you?
This was a huge milestone for us as a young, independent brand. It validated the vision we had for Curry Smugglers to celebrate Desi snacks in bold, vibrant packaging that reflects our heritage and modern multicultural Britain.
Seeing our cans on such an iconic, heritage-rich shelf felt surreal and incredibly exciting. It showed there’s space for playful, heritage-led products in premium retail and gave us confidence to keep pushing boundaries. For us, it wasn’t just a stockist win it was recognition that our culture, flavours, and story truly matter
Curry Smugglers is also about culture and representation. What message do you want people to take away?
Curry Smugglers is about more than snacks it’s about culture, representation, and celebrating heritage boldly. We wanted Desi flavours to have packaging and branding as vibrant and playful as the communities they come from, rather than hidden in bland, forgettable bags. It’s important that our children, and the next generation of British Asians, see their culture celebrated proudly and confidently.
The key message is simple: don’t be shy to promote your culture, embrace it fully, and be proud. Heritage and innovation can coexist, and representation matters in every part of life even down to the snacks we choose.
What’s next for Curry Smugglers?
Next for Curry Smugglers is about continuing to celebrate our culture in new ways while reaching more people. We’re exploring more iconic Desi snacks in bold craft cans, while raising funds to grow our team and introduce a more automated canning line. Growth isn’t just about shelves it’s about collaborations with chefs like Tony Singh, experiences, and telling stories at festivals like Glastonbury and other music events that connect with our community.
Sustainability and quality remain non-negotiable, keeping snacks fresh and packaging recyclable. Ultimately, we want Curry Smugglers to excite, surprise, and inspire, proving heritage-led products can be playful, innovative, and proudly celebrated by everyone
Curry Smugglers Desi Snacks
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