But AYO Foods founders, Perteet and Fred Spencer, would prefer their fare be next to Amy\u2019s Kitchen, the organic packaged and prepared foods giant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at our caloric intake, our protein content, our fiber content, it\u2019s very comfortable, if not better than some of the other kind of \u2018better for you\u2019 frozen items out there,\u201d Perteet Spencer said. \u201cAnd I can guarantee you it\u2019s going to be much more flavorful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spencers launched AYO Foods, an array of West African frozen meals and hot sauces, in July 2020. In two years, they\u2019ve expanded into stores nationwide, including Chicagoland Mariano\u2019s, Heinen\u2019s and The Fresh Market stores.<\/p>\n
Frozen options range from jollof rice to cassava leaf stew, egusi seed soup just begging for some doughy fufu to sop up all the rich flavors, and chicken yassa, a popular dish of slow-braised chicken thighs with lemon and caramelized onion.<\/p>\n
The couple partnered with \u201cTop Chef\u201d alumnus Eric Adjepong and chef Zoe Adjonyoh \u2014 cookbook author and founder of Zoe\u2019s Ghana Kitchen, to promote West African cuisine through the brand. As the daughter of a Liberian immigrant, Perteet Spencer said she believes everyone deserves to see themselves when they walk down the grocery aisle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about an entire continent not represented in grocery stores,\u201d Perteet Spencer said with an incredulous tone. \u201cIt\u2019s not a monolith; we\u2019re talking about 17 different countries (in West Africa). Every tribe, every country, they all have their unique way of doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regional cuisines share similar ingredients, and \u201cit\u2019s just the process of cooking \u2014 the different seasoning and flavors that you use \u2014 that separates them,\u201d her husband said.<\/p>\n
Before making fresh egusi stew with egusi seeds, chicken, onions and collards, Perteet makes her way to an African market on Foster Avenue and Broadway to gather dried crawfish and shrimp powder, seeds, and iru, also known as locust beans. Now, a version of the same dish with such hard-to-find ingredients is available at dozens of stores across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to take people on this journey through West Africa to allow them to experience the flavors and ingredients,\u201d she said. \u201cThe common mark that unites the food are these really slow-cooked, layered flavors … that\u2019s pretty consistent with everything, whether it\u2019s the dough rising on the puff puff, or the stew simmering on the cassava leaf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred Spencer likens the AYO Foods process to cooking soul food, with big pots, layered flavors and hearty, traditional fare.<\/p>\n
But finding ways to retain the depth and quality of those slow-cooked dishes on a mass production scale took serious effort, Perteet Spencer said. At one point, she brought in her mother so manufacturers could shadow her preparation in order to do it properly and not rush the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lots of horror stories early in our journey of partners that didn\u2019t work out because they wanted to speed up the process,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have a pot of greens, the best ones are those that cook low and slow. We needed to honor that process as we found partners to scale this up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result are ingredient lists that are familiar and alluring: roasted garlic puree made of simply garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and thyme accents the chicken yassa; just five ingredients comprise the fried puff puff bread.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re using fresh vegetables, we\u2019re doing that slow-cooking process. We\u2019re not cutting corners,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was really important for us to honor the process and not short change it as we went through our journey. It\u2019s just how we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
That operation began three years ago, when the Spencers, DePaul University college sweethearts, noticed market trends changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw this huge rise in global flavors, a massive gap in flavors of the continent in total,\u201d she said. So she left her corporate job as a brand manager with General Mills to bring joy to the world \u2014 ayo means \u201cjoy\u201d in Yoruba \u2014 full time, with Fred\u2019s urging and support.<\/p>\n
While she takes credit for introducing her husband to Liberian food, she said she learned how to cook from her father. He i emigrated from Lofa County, the northernmost portion of Liberia, to the Twin Cities in Minnesota at age 17, bringing with him cooking that reminded him of home. Her parents would eventually meet in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Perteet and Fred\u2019s large families serve as inspiration to the food brand, but it\u2019s the pair\u2019s love of food that is the nexus of AYO Foods. Fred, a real estate developer, opened a restaurant when he was 24 years old (something he said the couple might get back to someday). With a grandmother from Alabama, the Roseland native recalls cooking as a childhood chore, because he would get all the tedious food prep duties. But that\u2019s changed since he\u2019s gotten older.<\/p>\n
The family affair that cooking has always been is now one the youngest Spencers are picking up. Perteet and Fred\u2019s daughters, 11 and 8 years old, like the kitchen so much, sometimes they have to be pushed out of the space. Their oldest tries to get her biscuits as flaky as her father\u2019s, and she\u2019s currently working on perfecting her macaroons, said Perteet Spencer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love being involved in the kitchen with us,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t start cooking until college, and to see them start so young, it\u2019s exciting to see. You can\u2019t have family together without a ton of really incredible food.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first AYO Foods dishes were those the couple personally love \u2014 jollof rice, egusi soup and cassava leaf stew. The couple prides themselves on AYO Foods being rich in nutrients and low in sodium.<\/p>\n
\u201cObesity is at an all-time high, diabetes is at an all-time high, hypertension is at an all-time high. We couldn\u2019t in good conscience put out a product that was a contributor to all of that,\u201d Perteet said. \u201cI think one of the things that AYO does really beautifully is prove that food can be good and tasty, but still be good for you. We wanted to really be able to set a model for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan for the brand is to expand beyond frozen foods to bring greater inclusivity and diversity to shelves. AYO Foods already has pepper and shito sauces \u2014 the former is habanero-based, the latter has a seafood base, complemented by hot peppers, tomatoes and caramelized onions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started with frozen primarily because it\u2019s the easiest transition to have authentic ingredients \u2014 not adding preservatives or anything like that \u2014 to bring the true essence of the food,\u201d Fred Spencer said. \u201cBut we want to make this a broad brand, as opposed to just frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The self-described \u201cbig dreamers\u201d know the platform AYO Foods allows has a lot of wingspan to make an impact above and beyond celebrating the culture through packaged foods. The Moonboi Project is the Spencers philanthropic effort born from that platform \u2014 one that enriches the West African culture.<\/p>\n
In December, AYO Foods partnered with Girl Power Africa, a nonprofit committed to empowering women and children impacted by civil war and Ebola in Liberia through entrepreneurship. AYO is supporting the cultivation of 15 acres of Liberian farmland, the Spencers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of what we\u2019re doing with these dishes is bringing awareness to these crops, to this food, which we hope in turn creates increased demand and economic change in West Africa,\u201d Perteet said. \u201cAlready we\u2019ve built three homes, fully cleared the land, (and) we\u2019re starting to see the first crop yield. And the yield of that is actually being used to give back to women who were victims of either Ebola or the Liberian civil war as seed capital to start businesses of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing the impact the food brand is providing in such a short time has the Spencers excited about the potential of AYO Foods to not only change the lives of their immediate families, but other communities in desperate need of help, as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anything can get across from any of this is that, AYO was created as a family company,\u201d Fred Spencer said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing this as a family together, and that\u2019s what\u2019s going to make it successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The frozen meals that AYO Foods creates and markets sit next to P.F. Chang\u2019s food in Target\u2019s freezer section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":14454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,36],"tags":[7,30,38],"class_list":{"0":"post-14457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-lifestyle","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-lifestyle"},"yoast_head":"\n