In the middle of a pandemic, food entrepreneur launches 3 more seasoning flavours into 850 Coles with a mission to get people gathering around the dinner table and connecting.

Consumers are backing purpose driven food brands that have a greater purpose rather than just selling food for profit. 

Mingle Seasoning just recently launched 3 more seasoning flavours into 850 Coles supermarket, a deal worth around $1million. 

For Mingle’s Founder Jordyn, who sold her car, moved back home and put her life’s savings into this business, this has been a game changer but the financial reward is not why she gets up in the morning. 

The main reason she pushed for her business to be in Coles was to make a healthy seasoning product accessible to the masses and use her product as a vehicle to start a conversation around loneliness, the power of conversation and the value of connecting around a dinner table. 

COVID-19 has forced us to reconsider our daily rituals, reconnect to the simple pleasures of life and has brought many of us back to the kitchen, a place that is dear to Jordyn Evans’ heart. Jordyn Evans is the Founder of Mingle Seasoning and through the COVID-19 pandemic has been able to overcome manufacturers closing and delays with packaging to land a tasty seasoning dream that she has been working hard to land for the last 4 years with retail giant, Coles. 

Despite the manufacturing challenges through this time, Jordyn is glad her seasoning products can be accessible in supermarkets at a time, now more than ever, where people are cooking at home and are looking for tools in the kitchen. 

Whether it has been the homemade sourdough craze, three course meal challenges inspired by celebrities or the surge of meal kits, people are heading back to the kitchen to create and connect. This has also shown in Mingle Seasoning’s sales as well as they have seen a surge  in the last 4 months over the COVID-19 period growing 359% YoY. 

This cooking movement has warmed Jordyn’s heart as her mission for Mingle has always been far greater than just selling seasonings but she has had a clear vision  to reframe the way people look at cooking. 

Jordyn says: “Rather than see cooking as a chore,  we want people to see it as an opportunity to create together, experiment, learn, nourish one another and connect with our households. Often it takes an extreme event (COVID-19 being one of them) to shake things up, change our behaviours and for us to realign with what’s important to us.  Last year it took me burning out, being disconnected from family and friends and my Nan passing away for me to wake up to what really matters.  This experience woke me up to how easy it is to lose the value of the simple things in life and the daily rituals that bring so much value, including cooking and connecting around a dinner table. 

Seasoning doesn’t just have to be seasoning. cooking doesn't have to be just cooking, sitting around a dinner table doesn't have to be just eating, they should be opportunities to connect with the people you love.  

That's why we have “Nan's dinner table questions” on the back of Mingle bottles that launched into Coles. We wanted to use our seasoning bottles as a vehicle to keep people connected and prompt Australians to have flavoursome conversations with people you care for. We know now is a time more than ever where everyday is feeling like groundhog day but the conversations at the dinner table don’t have to bland. Next time you gather round a dinner table grab a bottle and ask someone you care about a #minglewithpurpose question!  You might just discover something new and connect with a loved one in a time where everyone is craving connection. “ 

Despite the challenges of lockdown, Jordyn Evans’ team just made it in time to turn around a retail deal with Coles and land 3 seasoning flavours (Garlic and Herb, Spicy Mexican & All Purpose) in the herbs and spice aisle at the end of July.  

3 years ago Jordyn had a vision to shake things up in the spice aisle and challenge mass-market brands with a range of spice blends that were free from preservatives, vegetable oil, added sugars and high amounts of salt. Tired of multinational companies cutting corners and compromising on quality, Jordyn wanted to give customers a flavour offering they could trust and feel confident using and that is how the brand Mingle was born.  Whilst Jordyn is still bootstrapping the business and out to challenge the big guys, she attributes her success to her customers, the power of word of mouth ( a social media following of 60,000 + followers and growing) and creating a flavoursome brand that gets people excited to create the kitchen.  Mingle’s seasonings make cooking easy, healthy and tasty all in one. 

Just when you would think landing a national supermarket deal would be enough right now, Jordyn hasn’t stopped there and through COVID-19 has partnered with RMIT learning designer, Olivia Rinato, to expand the business into a new service based vertical. This new arm to Mingle is called “Gather Round” and is a daringly delicious experiential, team-based online workshop designed to encourage deeper team connections given the constraints of currently working remotely and in isolation. The interactive workshop will provide a fun, agile and inclusive way of supporting the team to ensure company culture remains human-centred, positive and continues to align to value driven outcomes.  

The Gather Round experience is a 2 hour workshop, 1 hour focused on team culture and 1 hour focused on cooking, virtually . The pressures of the workplace can heat up, just like how things heat up in the kitchen. That's why Jordyn and Olivia will use cooking as a metaphor for the real work life pressures, team dynamics and stresses of the present workplace. Centred around cooking and conversations, the service design draws on the themes of confidence, courage, creativity and connection. Bottom line is, COVID-19 has shifted the future of work and many organisations are going to continue to capitalise on the benefits of remote working and the cost savings it has on the business. This makes the importance of team connection all the more critical.

Over the upcoming months, Jordyn looks to continue to keep Australians inspired with tasty creations and if you haven’t already, head down the Coles herbs and spice aisle and grab a Mingle Seasoning today  to elevate your cooking. 

Website: www.mingleseasoning.com

Social Media: @mingleseasoning #minglewithpurpose