Festive gift sets with double the impact: the making of the Spice Kitchen and SO JUST SHOP collaboration

We recently connected our brand partners Spice Kitchen and SO JUST SHOP to collaborate on a trio of festive gifts just in time for Christmas. Spice Kitchen’s gift sets and foodie favourites donate to charities like Karma Curry Movement, which supports survivors of human trafficking and The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which donates school meals for children in India. Meanwhile, SO JUST SHOP works with female artisans all around the world to keep traditional handicrafts alive, economically empowering women and the next generation in the process.

We were a fly on the wall for a conversation between SO JUST SHOP’s founder Jennifer and Spice Kitchen’s Head of Partnerships Jessica to plan their festive collaboration.

Jess: Spice Kitchen was created by my boss, Sanjay and his mum. It was originally supposed to be a bit of a retirement hobby for her.

On Christmas day, they were chatting, “Oh, Mom, you’re not the sort who’s ever going to retire. What would you like to do?” She’s always been passionate about making her own spice blends. So Sanjay said, “listen, mum, let’s put a traditional large Indian Masala Dabba (a stainless steel Indian tin that most Indian homes have by their cooker) online, fill it with your gorgeous spice blends and we’ll just see what happens.”

By Boxing Day, the first one had already sold, and they decided to do a recycled sari wrap around the spice tins. It’s grown organically from there. Now we’re in about 500 different retailers and are super proud of where the brand’s gone.

Because of the success of the Indian spice and the large one with the sari wrap, we then created a world one and a Middle East one. Since everyone was locked in for Covid-19, people wanted to explore food from around the world, not being able to go on holiday or visit restaurants. The brand grew substantially, which was great for us, and now we’ve branched out. We no longer just do Indian spice. We now do gingerbread hot chocolates, chai hot chocolates, chocolate bars with spices, and a variety of ways to get flavour.

 

Jennifer: I have lived and worked all over the world. My background is international development, and I worked a lot on maternal and child health projects all over, in Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, India. Organizations like University College London, I ran research projects in Zambia, and with the Clinton Foundation, I was based in India. For a short period, my colleagues and I had a small charity that worked a lot in Pakistan as well.

For me, it was about education and health and care access. In most communities, the problem seemed to be access and affordability, and that if you put money into the hands of women, they’re more likely to invest in their child’s health and education. So that’s where SO JUST SHOP came from – how do we economically empower women from vulnerable communities with poor education levels? Traditional skills seemed to be the way to go. It became a triple layer: supporting vulnerable women, increasing child education, reducing maternal and child mortality, preserving traditional skills and working sustainably. Everything we do is upcycled, recycled, and made with sustainable materials. 

Jess: The bestseller is always our Indian and world sets. They’re made from recycled saris by Sanjay’s mum and her team of seamstresses. They’re a gift wrap, popular for Christmas. Inside, you get a recipe book and an Indian spice spoon. We have a variety of SKUs, but here’s a more recent product where we could collaborate.

One idea is our mulling spice kits. Each kit has two tea bags filled with cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and star anise. They’ve won awards. You just put a bag into a bottle of red wine, cider, or apple juice for delicious mulled drinks. Many gift shops sell them with a ceramic mug for Christmas. They come in three packaging forms, and the triangle is most popular because it fits nicely in mugs or hampers as a stocking filler. I thought the mini tin might appeal to you—it’s plastic-free and looks different.

Jennifer: These would go well with our Palestinian mugs.

Jess: Another idea is hot chocolate. It comes in a 100g pouch or triangle with a Christmassy feel—snowflakes on the packaging. Three flavors: classic, gingerbread with speculoos blend, and chai spiced, which has won a Great Taste Award. The trio set with a pretty mug is popular at Christmas. We also launched a chocolate bar with similar flavors. Originally, we sent them as a thank-you to retailers, but they enjoyed them so much, they asked us to make them for sale.

 

Jennifer: We do gift sets like our Time for Tea set, so we could do a similar one with your hot chocolate and chocolate bar. These mugs come in different styles, and supporting our Palestinian artists is important. We also do handmade Christmas decorations. Maybe we could include the elephant one?

Jess: Elephants were part of our branding—a mother and son elephant. It would fit well. And you know how you elephants pass on information! We don’t have that elephant branding anymore, but there still is a little logo on the back, so that would fit in really nicely.

Should we start with, like you said, the mug and the little mulling spices, just because it’s festive? Hopefully, there’s going to be interest.

Jennifer: I like the idea of the elephant Christmas decorations. Maybe we could do something like mulled spice, mug, elephant, and chocolate—a gorgeous set. I think that would be really nice.

Jess: That’s the sort of thing I would have wanted to buy for my granny for Christmas, because it’s just right up her street.

 

Discover more about Spice Kitchen and SO JUST SHOP and shop the gift sets.