How Lesley came up with the recipe for success

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate Magazine we meet Lesley So, the founder of award-winning Korean street food business OMOMO.

Hospitality is a sector that has endured many challenges in recent years – but if you get the recipe right, you can be a success.

And as Innovate discovers, OMOMO is a prime example of a business that has found the perfect blend.

Situated in Derby’s historic Cathedral Quarter, OMOMO is the brainchild of entrepreneur Lesley.

She sat down with Innovate to share with us her entrepreneurial journey – and how, as well as serving delicious food, her business has created jobs for people from marginalised backgrounds.

She told Innovate: “We want to be a place where people feel welcome, where they can have fun and where the flavours of our food have a bit of a ‘pop’ and give customers an ‘Oh my gosh” moment’.

“And we want to create employment and give people a chance – maybe even that first ‘yes’ to help them on their journey.”

Despite being open for just over a year, OMOMO is already trading strongly, receiving five-star reviews and was named Newcomer of the Year at the most recent Marketing Derby Food and Drink Awards.

Such achievements are perhaps even more remarkable given that neither Lesley nor any of those who make up her near 20-strong team are from traditional restaurant backgrounds.

Lesley had, in fact, forged a successful career with Rolls-Royce before deciding to launch a business of her own.

She told Innovate: “I’d always wanted to be an entrepreneur and to run my own business.

“With Rolls-Royce, I got to travel the world, experience so many different things and meet the most wonderful people and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“But I wanted to make my own decisions and be able to create opportunities for employment and I thought if I stayed with Rolls-Royce, I’d never really be able to do that.”

Her first venture was So Good Kombucha, producing a fermented tea – which has its origins in ancient China and had been ‘home-brewed’ for many years by her family – as a healthy fizzy drink alternative.

The business also allowed Lesley to demonstrate a strong, principled approach to doing business, with a particular eye to the environment and to creating meaningful work for refugees and others marginalised in society to enable them to escape the benefits system.

Having been part of an immigrant community in Canada, she has empathy for those attempting to build new and better lives for their families.

She told Innovate: “Everybody needs a chance. If you have a gift, if you have a talent, if you have a willingness just to try and do something, I want to be able to provide opportunity.”

To read the interview in full visit https://heyzine.com/flip-book/09140571b9.html#page/32.