The loving South London baker creating 'UK's most inclusive doughnuts' for allergic kids
If you need any more proof that necessity is the mother of invention then you need to look no further than Ryan Panchoo. The 45-year-old is the mastermind and CEO behind Borough 22, the UK's only gluten-free, dairy-free, plant-based, halal and kosher doughnuts.
They have been called the most inclusive doughnuts around and Ryan made them so for his children. "The reason I started the company was because my kids had multiple allergies. So I was kind of like a frustrated parent," said Ryan who is from South Bermondsey.
"We just kept repeating the same scenario where we go into these spaces, they'd see all this food, they'd see all their friends enjoying this food, and they couldn't touch it because it would make them really sick." Both Ryan's kids were allergic to dairy and are gluten intolerant. He believed these were easy to miss out so he went about making his own snacks that his children could enjoy.
READ MORE: The South London ex-EastEnders star who now runs 6 acting academies at just 25
Ryan is not a professional baker nor has he any background in baking. In fact, he started out life as a bricklayer before going into project management in architecture and construction design. He used cookbooks and recipes he found to start making the snacks and had very honest taste testers in his kids.
Ryan said: "I started mucking around in the kitchen and coming up with all these recipes. I'm making cupcakes, then brownies and then doughnuts, and they really liked the doughnuts. There were lots of lot recipes, that weren't hitting at all and they were young enough to be brutally honest and let, you know with their facial expressions, or clawing stuff out their mouth and just chucking it on the floor and running off."
Eventually, Ryan found a recipe that 'really hit' and started making them for friends and other connections who had similar allergies. Because the doughnuts were multi-allergen-free, he could share them with all, and the feedback was always positive.
When Ryan started making these doughnuts back in 2011, free-from foods and ingredients were not the easiest to come by in high street supermarkets. He ordered many ingredients off the internet and they came from around the world so you can imagine the costs he was incurring with these.
After a few years of having cupboards full of these ingredients, Ryan decided to not just let them sit there and go off but, instead, sell some of his highly-rated doughnuts. This would not just help recover some of the fees spent in getting the ingredients but also help others like his children who were being robbed of delicious sweet snacks because of their allergies.
He made the logo on his iPad, ordered a thousand business cards, registered the business and in 2014 Borough 22 was born. He worked full time and had two kids so his time was at a premium. Still, Ryan infiltrated Facebook groups - a lot of celiac groups he said - and started promoting his doughnuts, making and selling from his home kitchen.
In his own words, Ryan says 'people went nuts' for the doughnuts and things started rolling from there. He would limit orders so he could fulfil them all, working his nine to five on the weekdays, baking late in the evening to the end of the week and then, on Saturday, he would deliver all the doughnuts around London for his customers.
After only a year of selling, Ryan's big break would come. Someone tagged Selfridges in an Instagram post and told them that they needed Borough 22 Doughnuts to which Selfridges replied. They said that they were always looking for new suppliers and Ryan sent them the doughnuts to try. The store loved them and from there, Borough 22 became a new supplier for Selfridges.
In 2017, Ryan was made redundant from his normal job and so decided to start doing Borough 22 full-time. Since then there have been ups and downs with the business. Covid was actually a big time for Ryan as demand skyrocketed and since then he has moved out from his home kitchen into a domestic kitchen.
Ryan has won awards for his doughnuts including winning Free From Product of the Year in 2023 and earning a Great Taste Award. Ryan was also named Pastry Chef of the Year at Be Inclusive Hospitality Awards in 2023 and is a finalist in the 2024 Black British Business Awards.
Ryan said that the awards are important as there are not a lot of black faces in the baking world. He said: "I won an award last year pastry chef of the Year at the Be Inclusive Hospitality Awards. I know there are there are black pastry chefs out there - there's one in my category, actually - so I know they're out there. But I think even just exposing myself to that and winning these awards or even being finalists, it may hopefully encourage other people [black bakers] to come out the woodwork or show their faces as I know they exist."
You can see where you can get Borough 22 Doughnuts from, and order them on the website here.
Stay up to date with London's most exciting events, newest restaurants and latest deals with our What's On newsletter, Going Out Out. You can sign up HERE.