Indian food entrepreneur returns with new Ripon production kitchen
The Editor
Award-winning entrepreneur Monalisa Fathima has announced the opening of a new, expanded production facility in Ripon for her latest venture, Monalisa’s Kitchen.
The move to the new unit at Sycamore Business Park in Copt Hewick marks an exciting new chapter for Monalisa, whose journey into the World Foods category began during a period of profound personal challenge.
Six years ago, while in the final months of completing a PhD in Education, Monalisa was diagnosed with congenital cataracts. During her recovery, she found herself reliant on supermarket-ready meals and identified a significant void in the market for true, homemade Indian flavours. This realisation sparked a personal quest to create a line of handcrafted, ready-to-cook products that deliver authentic, restaurant-quality results at home in under 30 minutes.
Monalisa is no stranger to the Yorkshire food scene, having previously founded the multi-award-winning brand Saffron Tree. While Saffron Tree focused on premium chilled ready meals, earning national recognition and praise from the likes of The Hairy Bikers and securing listings with premium supermarket retailer Waitrose, Monalisa’s Kitchen represents an evolution towards empowering the home cook.
The new Ripon premises feature a bespoke production kitchen, storage, and office space, designed to support a surge in national demand. This scale-up follows a successful 2025, during which the brand received a Bronze Commendation from The Grocer at its prestigious national new product food awards.
Monalisa said: “My mission is to help people discover that the rich, complex flavours of Indian food can be recreated in their own kitchen with very little effort. After the success of Saffron Tree and my own personal health journey, moving into this new facility in Ripon, surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs, feels like a homecoming.
“The new business unit allows for controlled, compliant production and measured growth as we reach more kitchens across the UK. My range is rooted in traditional flavours made with premium ingredients, presented in a way that fits naturally into modern British kitchens. Unlike most curry pastes and sauces on the market, the masala pastes are raw and uncooked, prepared in the same way they would be at home. They are not pre-cooked or heat-treated and only come to life when the customer cooks with them, allowing the flavours to develop naturally during the cooking process and delivering taste that is as authentic as it can be.”
The current Monalisa’s Kitchen range features five signature curry masala pastes including tikka, makhani, korma, rogan josh and vindaloo, alongside versatile essentials such as the all-purpose signature spice blend, pakora masala, and sides including perfect pulao rice and tadka dal. New products are currently being developed for launch later this year.
Monalisa’s Kitchen products are currently sold through the brand’s own online store, with additional supply to selected local independent farm shops on a wholesale basis.
