Japanese mayo, made in the UK, propels West Midlands start-up into the spotlight at Fortnum & Mason

The Umami Bros produce mayonnaise from ingredients, including British rapeseed oil and, as the name suggests, umami flavourings, which, according to their sales patter, makes their mayo “hit different.”

“The umami taste is hard to define,” said Elliot Cornish-Sheasby, Staffordshire-born and raised and now based in Wimbledon, one of the three Umami Bros.

“It’s a real meaty, deep flavour, like heavy red meats, deep tomato. Umami is the flavour profile outside the conventional sweet and sour. The fifth taste."

The question now is: ‘Do you want some chips with your mayo?’

“It’s such a game-changing flavour that the question now is not ‘Do you want some mayo with your chips?’ but rather ‘Do you want some chips with your mayo? It’s not the difference in taste - it’s the depth of taste that our condiment brings against conventional mayonnaises in the market."

The product is MSG (mono sodium glutamate)-free, gluten-free and made with egg yolks rather than whole eggs and infused with umami flavourings.

Among 10 winners from a field of 200+ in F&M competition

The Umami Bros mayo was among 10 winners from 200+ entries to Fortnum & Mason’s nationwide “Fortnum & Makers Open Call” competition, seeking to discover the UK’s most exciting emerging food and beverage brands.

“Possibly the best mayo you’ll ever taste,” said Fortnum & Mason in its spiel explaining why The Umami Bros won.

Born out of Covid lockdown 

The Umami Bros was a byproduct of Covid. Elliot and his two business partners, James Killer and Aaron Burgess-Smith, made the decision to live together, along with their respective partners, when the UK entered lockdown in 2020.

During the course of the next nine weeks, a dinner conversation led to the idea of starting a business - ideally, typically suggested by Elliot, a chartered accountant by trade, dealing in a zero-rated VAT product like food.

Pretty soon the trio honed in on umami mayo.

And pretty soon after that they were working with a Midlands-based manufacturer to fine-tune the flavour. So far they’ve done eight iterations, the last three of which have landed them consecutive honours at the annual Great Taste awards.

The company started trading in 2022, largely to trade customers. Today’s Fortnum & Mason’s news marks The Umami Bros’ step into the retail market.

“It’s been a surreal experience - and it’s a wave we‘re going to try to ride,” said Elliot, whose day job is for Crowe UK (which has an office in Oldbury), working in their hotel, tourism and leisure consultancy department, Horwath HTL, in Blackfriars, London.

‘My parents’ buzzing Brummie business inspired me’

He also retains a directorship in Eventmasters, a leading corporate events company in the UK run by family.

Elliot credits the drive and enterprise of his parents for inspiring him to go into business.

“My mum and dad gave me the entrepreneurial bug, for sure,” he said.

“Seeing them build Eventmasters into the very successful business it is today, in the buzzing heart of Brum, was what inspired me.”