AN Ealing based Indian food business has had to adapt to the new normal and change its business model drastically in order to continue being successful.

Cheeky Food Co was founded in 2014 by Hanwell resident, Swati Biwal.

Biwal used to be a mathematician, but decided to leave her 'geeky' career - as she described it – in order to spend more time with her kids.

She told Nub News: "When we first moved to the UK in 2010, I felt like the Indian condiments sold in supermarkets tasted like baby food and people here deserved something better."

That's when six years ago she started making her own condiments, based on her grandmother's recipes and selling them at markets.

A few months later came her big break, when Selfridges took Cheeky on as part of their Meet the Maker campaign and Biwal officially launched with the department store in July 2015.

As time went on, the business grew bigger and bigger, allowing Biwal to employ two full-time members of staff, move into a commercial kitchen in Park Royal and outsource parts of the business.

In March however, that all changed, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the world to come to a standstill.

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The mum-of-three said: "Around 70% of our business was supplying to manufacturers, with another 20% going to wholesale.

"That's all pretty much had to stop, with many local cafes and delis not wanting to bulk buy in fear of another lockdown.

"That means we've had to mostly rely on our online sales directly to customers, which used to be about 10% of our business."

Since March, Cheeky Food has increased its online sales tenfold.

"We had to adapt to the situation and thankfully we've done it well.

"We're not back to the levels we were pre-COVID, but we have managed to still remain profitable during the pandemic, something which I didn't expect to happen", added Biwal.

The former mathematician believes that even when the pandemic is over and things go back to normal, she will continue to focus on online sales.

"The only way we have complete control over sales is through our website, I now understand its importance and I'll make sure that continues, no matter what the future holds."