Trials, Tears, and Turning Points

Building ChopServe was like walking barefoot on thorns.

They needed funding. Everyone they pitched to said the idea was too risky. Who would trust food from random homes? Wasn’t it unsafe? How would they ensure hygiene?

Kojo nearly gave up. But Ama refused.

“Let’s do a pilot. Even if it’s just three kitchens and ten customers,” she said.

They borrowed money from friends and started with Auntie Tina’s kitchen and two other women in the neighborhood. Kojo printed flyers. Ama built a landing page. Orders started coming in—slowly, but they came.

One day, a customer posted their fufu delivery on Twitter. The post went viral.

Suddenly, bloggers were calling. Local radio invited them for interviews. Investors who had ignored their emails now wanted meetings.

But with growth came challenges. One vendor delivered late, another mixed up orders. A customer fell ill and accused them of food poisoning. It was chaos.

Ama cried that night. Kojo sat with her on a roadside bench.

“We’re not just building a business,” he said. “We’re building trust. We’ll figure it out.”

They introduced hygiene training for vendors, created a rating system, and implemented delivery tracking.

Bit by bit, the chaos became a system.