Alex and Tom Ward, brothers from Rawmarsh, Rotherham, have won Young Trader of the Year at the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) awards for their hot sauce business, Chilli Charva. The company began as kitchen experiments after the pair spent six months travelling and researching Southeast Asian cuisine, and their success highlights how young entrepreneurs can turn a niche food passion into a viable full-time enterprise despite initial family scepticism.

Alex, 28, and Tom, 32, gave up engineering and plastering jobs last year to run the business full time, having previously won a regional Yorkshire and Humber accolade in 2025. A 2023 trip to South Asia informed their recipes, which combine fresh and dried chillies with white wine vinegar and tomato paste, and the brothers have since moved production from their parents' kitchen into dedicated premises near Rotherham Parkgate, selling bottles at food markets across Yorkshire for the past two years.