Former Whitby and Staithes man's Malaysian sauce business venture rewarded

Gerard Hackett, 59, who grew up in Staithes and later in Whitby, left to join the military and then trained to be a chef while the woman who was to become his wife, Mariae, had moved to England from Malaysia in 1989 to train to become a nurse.

After falling in love and getting married, for the past six years, they have worked tirelessly from their home in Maple Cross, Herts, to build their business, Dapur Mariae, producing Malaysian sauces from their kitchen.

Reward came when the couple won the UK Quality Food Award in 2018 for two of their products.

They went on to win the UK Quality Food Awards again in 2020 for a Curry Paste, along with scooping The Coop Small Producer Award, and gained a listing in their store.

They will be launching their products in Coop, including Whitby’s Langborne Road store, on October 10.

The delighted couple said: “Our aim is to spread the joy of Malaysian food, which is still relatively unknown, and the backing of Co-op is really supporting the development of our business, providing visibility, awareness and access to our products in more communities across the country.”

Mariae added: “Gerard still has family and friends in Yorkshire and it holds a special place in my heart too as we got married in Whitby.

“He is without a doubt the epitome of a ‘small town lad done good’.”