The West African café with queues around the block

MUD is a vibrant and popular café in Tooting, South West London. Founded by siblings Kemilia and Femi Ogunmuyiwa in 2019, the business was born out of a shared passion for hospitality and a love of food innovation.

The pair had a vision to create a café menu that was visually beautiful but uncompromising on flavour. The dishes they produce are full of heart and reflect their West African heritage, while showcasing the wonderful global ingredients and mix of cultures available across London.

Kemilia applied to the Uber Black Business Fund for financial support to counteract the effects of the cost of living crisis that all UK businesses have had to struggle with in recent times. Here's her story.

How the Black Business Fund helped Kemilia

What challenges did your business face prior to the grant?

We were struggling heavily with increased rent and insurance payments, post-Brexit difficulties with sourcing reasonably priced ingredients and persistent staff absences and shortages.

Most critically, we were finding that the increased cost of grocery and front-of-house supplies were making it really difficult for us to innovate and come up with new dishes at a price point that would work for both us and our customers.

Have you been able to improve your menu offerings or introduce new products because of the grant?

With the help of the grant, we've been able to invest in a variety of new equipment, such as our deep fryer, with which we've created our new "smoked jollof arancini". We also introduced our "dirty plantain tostones", thanks to our new tostonera plantain presses.

How has the grant helped you manage the day-to-day operations or expand your team at the café?

The grant freed up vital resources, which allowed us to hire additional front-of-house staff. This meant that our chef team members could dedicate more time to preparing and executing dishes.

What measurable results have you seen since receiving the grant?

We're so happy to report that our weekend trade in particular is booming. We regularly have queues around the block, with customers eager to get a table at our spot.

This would not have been possible without the help of the Uber Eats Black Business Fund so massive thanks for this invaluable lifeline for our business!

Apply to the Black Business Fund today

Want £10,000 to give your business a much-needed boost during this difficult time of trading? Find out how to apply