The jam business that almost didn’t make it to year 9

Leo’s Little Jars Turns 9

Nine years ago today, on March 12, 2017, I stood behind a tiny table at ERF81 in Tamboerskloof with a few jars and a slightly crazy idea.

I had no team. No kitchen. No plan.

Just a love for cooking, for South African farmers markets, and a dream of creating French-style foods in reusable glass jars.

Today Leo’s Little Jars turns nine years old. wow, 9 years baby!

But the funny thing is, a few years ago the business almost closed. I was over it and wanted to sell. 

So here is the story of how this little jam adventure began, almost ended, and somehow grew bigger than I ever imagined.

 

The Day My Friends Pushed Me

The truth is that Leo’s Little Jars started because of two friends: Blandine & Malissa.

At the time I had been in Cape Town for about a year and I kept talking about this idea of a food business. A brand of artisanal french dish served in jars and adapted to the vibrant culture of Cape Town markets.

One evening my - slightly over the whole "i have a dream" rant - friend said:

“You keep talking about this business idea. We’re organizing an event at ERF81 in Tamboerskloof. Why don’t you come and have a stall?”

Now, because I am slightly ADHD and extremely perfectionist, I couldn’t just show up with a few jars.

If I was going to do it, I needed a logo, labels, and a proper little range of products.

So I went in hidding and spent the next few days buying products, cooking, designing and printing a logo and labels that I wrote by hand.

And on March 12, 2017, Leo’s Little Jars officially existed for the first time.

A small table. A handful of jars.

And absolutely no idea what I had just started.

 

Cooking in a mad House of 13

The business began in my kitchen... In a house shared with 13 (yup) students and young professionals.

Which meant late parties, chaotic mornings and disaster kitchens to clean before I could even begin making jam.

My first markets were Company Gardens every Sunday and St George’s Mall on Thursdays at lunch, with a bit of catering for co-working spaces in between.

It was simple. Small. And incredibly exciting.

 

The First Big Opportunity

In October 2017 I moved production to La Sorbetière (now Thirteen), an incredible artisan ice cream shop created by Bérangère that generously shared their space. From her i learnt discipline, techniques and a deep love for things done right.

 In January I hired my first employee. Vuyolwethu. Now it was a business. 

Soon after came my first B2B clients. One of the earliest was Swan Café.

Then something unexpected 'and frankly quite a bit scary) happened.

The manager there, Luke, loved the products and the story so much that he called Sheryl Ozinsky, the owner of the Oranjezicht Market, and asked her to meet me.

I was interviewed the following Friday. Sheryl was not convinced.

• "Jams don't do so well here." 
• "maybe they haven't tasted REALLY good jam yet" I said (with a burst of confidence, my spirit guide suddently shared, merci papa)

She must have bought it and gave me a chance.

On June 8, 2018, they placed a small table for me in the middle of the vegetable tent.

I had brought 108 jars because that was all i could physically produce in such short notice.

At 11:30 I had sold 32 jars. and shouted it to her over the crowd! 

Sheryl started getting invested in the game. Every half hour she would come back and ask: “So? What’s the score?”

At 2pm, with only a handful of jars left, she offered the honor of ringing the bell and gave a beautiful speech for support. I WAS IN! 

I went home with 9 jars and a heart full of dreams.

Growing Faster Than Expected

Being at the market opened many doors. Brought new clients, new ideas and new visibility for retailers & hotels.  Production increased and the space I shared with Bérangère quickly became too small.

In August 2019 I moved into a bigger production space in Gardens. MY-OWN-SHOP. Wow the 5 year old, playing cashier for hours was over the moon proud. I mean a shop with your name on it ? Pretty cool no? 

By then we were running markets every Saturday and Sunday and slowly building a small but efficient network of resellers.

And then COVID arrived.

 

The Strange Gift of Lockdown

Strangely enough, I actually loved the first weeks.

One of the beautiful things about jam is that it waits patiently. Nothing spoils quickly. I could close the doors without worrying about losing raw materials. What a priviledge in a time where so many of my colleagues lost so much.

On the personal side, I had just moved in with my partner and we were suddenly gifted with quiet time together.

So naturally I cooked. A LOT! 

I made fun jam videos. (Madeleines & jam, Key lime pie & Jam, Ramen with jam, Slow cooked ribs with jam.. you get the jist) 

I had an essential goods certificate so I could also deliver jars to private clients around Cape Town. Because yes delivering 2 jars of jam in Blouberg is in fact a necessity. (my boyfriend tagged along to a few of these because, jams are heavy... and also... free ticket out of our small appartment) 

The French community supported the brand massively. So once more, Merci les amis! 

There were also some memorable moments: Like explaining to a very kind police officer during alcohol prohibition that pineapple and rum jam was not actually alcohol.

The other upside was that many restaurants, unable to operate normally, opened deli counters and came looking for what some kindly called the best jam in the country.

 

Success… and Burnout

Life slowly restarted. The team grew. 

We signed some surreal partnerships, including Caffelux and Warner Bros to create a limited edition range inspired by Friends. 

Could I BE any prouder?!

Around the same time my partner and I got married, a year full of creativity and joyful chaos. 

But behind the scenes something else was happening... I was burned out.

I'm sure a lot of fellow entrepreneurs can relate: I had started this business out of pure love for cooking and creativity. Over time my days had become about solving problems, managing HR issues, paying bills and answering emails.

Admin. Admin. Admin.

I realized how serious it was the day I noticed I had not created a single new recipe in two years. My brain was fried. My heart had shut off.

Seeing me in such distress, my husband said something very simple.

• “If you are not happy, close it.”
• “What a failure,” I replied.
• “Then sell it,” he said.

And so I started preparing to sell Leo’s Little Jars.

A Life-Changing Surprise

Then life had other plans... At the bottom of a koppie in Damaraland, Namibia, we discovered we were going to welcome a little baba into our lives.

Now it was more about : Damn let me find someone that can hold the business together for a few months and sell later. Income Sandra. With our great team she took over the operations. 

Suddenly everything changed.

I COULD STOP. I turned the powerhouse-non stop-high pressured brain of mine:  I stepped out of the business for my maternity leave.

For the first time in years I rested. I switched my brain off. For a while I was Léonore again, not “Leo the jam lady”.

And then our son arrived. Becoming a mother shifted my perspective on everything.

The Spark Returns

Towards the end of my maternity leave in July 2024, I received an email saying Kamers had accepted us into their show.

And just like that something woke up again.

Ideas started coming back: Recipes. Packaging. Projects.

I was excited again.

I returned to work & started juggling life as a mum and a business owner. Sometimes gracefully, sometimes not. But always with the same passion.

My little secret when guilt creeped in? I may not give 100% of my time to everything anymore. But I can be 100% present in the time I give.

 

A New Chapter

Then came another leap.

Like most winters, my ADHD called and after it made me repaint half the shop, it suggested I started looking for a new space... (as one does in August with no cash flow) 

I went to visit a space in Obs. A 356m² (coming from 55 - notice the good idea yet?!) The premise was adjacent to the business of Serena a french Patissière, who I had met in the past for a Choux & jam collab. 

She had just decided to close her production business but had recently renewed her lease. She was having a rough day, we went out for coffee. 

• “What actually makes you happy?” I asked.
• “Teaching. Sharing my passion.”

I needed more space.

She needed less.

We looked at each other. “Should we?”

A month later we signed.

Moving thousands of jars and five years of Gardens memories into a truck was emotional.

Our new address was in Observatory, the very neighborhood where I had lived when I first arrived in Cape Town. 

Brighter. Bigger. Full of possibility.  And frankly, that move lifted my glass ceiling. Without even realizing it, the dreams became bigger. 

This was early 2025 and I was crossing off dream I had in 2020 

Out of Africa.

Giovanni’s.

Intercontinental.

Ladurée. (well this one I could have never dreamed of - there is a full article about it!)

(there is a picture of that list which for some reason i can't find => ADHD put it somewhere safe, too safe)

Nine Years Later

Today, nearly a decade after that little table in Tamboerskloof:

• Hundreds of thousands of jars sold.
• More than 150 recipes created.
• Countless collaborations.
• And many incredible women trained along the way.

Today I feel exactly right, exactly where I should be.

A fulfilled woman.

A happy wife.

A very grateful mother.

And still a learning, growing entrepreneur.

Nine years of Leo’s Little Jars. WOW. 

I cannot wait to see what the next chapter tastes like. Who's with me?

 

With love, always, Léo