More than a label.
Born from a belief that food should be honest.
Most food brands talk about quality. We can show you exactly where ours comes from, who grew it, and how it was made.
Three things we never compromise on
Transparency
We believe you deserve to know exactly where your food comes from and how it was grown.
Direct Trade
We buy directly from producers, cutting out middlemen and ensuring farmers are paid fairly.
No Compromise
We never sacrifice quality for cost. Every ingredient meets our standards or it doesn't make the cut.
How it started
Where SACO began
We're Franck and Lucia.
Franck was born in Ivory Coast, grew up in Senegal and Italy. Lucia was born and raised in Italy by Congolese parents.
We always wanted to do something meaningful connected to West Africa, but we weren't sure what that looked like.
During a visit to Ivory Coast, Franck's dad handed him a small bag of dried ginger flakes. Franck had never tried anything like it. He brought some home for Lucia.
She loved it. We started making ginger tea after meals, and it became part of our routine.
That's when the question came up: why weren't these available in the UK?
Right there, without quite realising it, SACO was born.
That conversation changed everything.
MEETING AMY, IVORY COAST
The first trip back
The first trip back to Ivory Coast wasn't about business. It was about understanding where the ingredients came from and who was behind them.
A friend introduced us to Amy, one of the women producing ginger flakes. She told us her story: raising four children on her own after her husband left during the 2010 political crisis, selling ginger and other products at the local market to survive.
We realised we could build something that connected customers in the UK with the people actually growing and processing these ingredients. Not through middlemen. Not through vague supply chains. Directly.
FEBRUARY 2016
SACO Superfoods launched.
Building the relationships
We started small, working with a handful of women producers in Ivory Coast. Over the years, that network grew to around 150 small-scale producers, many of them women.
We visit regularly. We build relationships. We pay fairly.
It's what direct trade makes possible.