ODJI

HOTTER THAN YOUR NEIGHBOUR

Not only a treat for your taste buds but also a joy to give.

OUR HISTORY

from Joey's HOT STUFF to ODJI

What once started as a family recipe from Joey von Grumbkow has now grown into ODJI'S chili oil.

Grandma Nan (Ernannie) passed on the old family sambal recipe to Joey. When asked, "Grandma, what exactly is in it and how much?" she said, "Just look and feel."

Over the years, Joey was able to experiment with it, first for himself, then for family and friends. More and more friends asked for the chili oil during dinners, and Joey made more and more to give away.

More demand than anticipated

Then BAPA Collective came to Amsterdam, a Moluccan-Vietnamese run coffee shop in Amsterdam East. Nana and Stephanie, the owners, wanted to sell sambal or another hot sauce in their shop.

After searching, they came to one conclusion: Joey's HOT STUFF chili oil.
Thus, the idea was born to sell the chili oil that had been used in Joey's home for years at BAPA Collective.

Not only was the sale a great success from day one, but people came from far and wide to buy this chili oil. Jar after jar, batch after batch. Chili oil after chili oil.

Because the success turned out to be greater than expected, more and more opportunities arose. Interest from other lunchrooms and restaurants increased. The choice was either to sell chili oil under the same name or to grow.

We chose the latter.

What does ODJI mean?!

But what name do you choose then?
Naming it Joey von Grumbkow didn't seem like a good idea. Too many letters.

When we're at a market, people are always convinced when they taste it. And as a homage to Grandma Nan, it seemed like a good idea to give it an Indonesian base. After all, it's her recipe.

In Bahasa Indonesia, Uji means "test," "taste."

Which is, of course, great because that's exactly what we want you to do. Taste the chili oil! But because Uji is also a city in Japan, we didn't want to compete with that.
After reflection and research into possibilities, we arrived at ODJI.

A fun, playful name with the origin of Taste! Because once you've tasted our chili oil, you'll never want anything else!