to tell the story of brundo, we have to begin with cafe colucci.

Ethiopian born and raised, Fetlework created the small family-owned restaurant in 1991 Berkeley with the hope of serving and educating her community about the wonders and beauty of East African cuisine. The restaurant captured hearts throughout the local community, but about a decade later, she began running into issues consistently sourcing high quality, authentic spices (an integral part of Ethiopian cooking), namely because a robust supply chain did not exist. Fetlework decided to take control of our supply chain, returned to Ethiopia and established a small-scale spice production facility in Modjo, a village a few hours from the capital.

What didn’t go to the restaurant, we began to sell. There was little to no visibility of the flavors that came out of the Continent, but as the global appetite for these spices grew, so did our mission. We invested more of our time into growing Brundo, developing relationships with local farmers in Modjo, importing products to Oakland, and, eventually, sharing the beloved and traditional Ethiopian pantry and flavors with the world.   

Cheers,

The Brundo Team