As the economy starts to reopen, many vegan restaurants and cafes around London are furiously looking for staff.
The past year and a bit saw a lot of businesses close, some temporarily and some for good. As people get used to spending money again and once again dining outside their own homes, vegan business owners are throwing caution to the wind and reopening.
I’ve noticed quite a few vegan job adverts popping up online over recent days including with Temple of Seitan, a legendary vegan business with which I am currently working!
Here are a few picks for jobs that caught my eye from three of the best names on the vegan London scene.
Be sure to also use employment portals and platforms online to search for vegan employment. I’m certain you will find a lot more out there.
Essential Vegan in Dalston needs you! They are looking for an experienced part-time kitchen assistant to join their lovely team immediately. Please send your cv to info@essentialvegan.co.uk and you could be working with their gorgeous team and serving drag brunch every weekend!
Legendary vegan fried chick’n business Temple of Seitan is expanding in a big way. With a fourth restaurant set to open in South London and the number of delivery kitchens now at five (including the latest in Colindale), Temple is on a hiring mission.
Temple of Seitan is currently searching for a kitchen manager and team member for Colindale, plus a supervisor and team member for South London, near Brixton. You can email Dan@templeofseitan.co.uk with your CV and let him know which position/s you are interested in.
Café Van Gogh is one of my favourite places to eat in London. Everyone on their team is so friendly and the food is always gorgeous. I love the place so much, I even recently interviewed founder Steve Clarke for my podcast and you can listen to that online here.
The restaurant on Brixton Road is searching for an experienced café manager for their front of house team. You can see more details in the Instagram post above and email info@cafevangogh.co.uk if you are interested.
I recently (as in today!) had a chat with Steve Clarke, founder of Brixton vegan restaurant Café Van Gogh.
We chatted about how excited he is about coming out of lockdown, new head chef Bonita, what makes the café so special to the local community, and what’s on the new menu.
It is a fun and informative chat about one of the best places to eat vegan food in London.
Cafe Van Gogh is a 100% vegan eatery in Brixton, South London that has always impressed me. Not only do they serve some of the tastiest food in the country, the cafe also runs as a social enterprise.
What is a not-for-profit social enterprise?
Cafe Van Gogh is a community interest company, which very basically means that their social purpose is stronger than their drive to make tonnes of cash. All of their business decisions and ethical choices are made for the local community, the environment, cafe staff, and customers.
Cafe Van Gogh works in conjunction with Toucan Employment, a leading learning disability employment charity, to run a programme of on-the-job training for people with additional challenges in life, such as a learning disability or a mental health problem to provide them with the support and confidence to seek paid employment. They also provide paid employment opportunities to these delegates if the opportunity arises.
The cafe aspires to be zero waste, they do not tolerate single use plastics, and all of their takeaway containers and coffee cups are fully compostable. They recycle food waste and it’s all taken away to be composted rather than sent to landfill.
Is that enough reason for you to visit? Well, how about this?
The Vegan Ploughman’s is a tantalising food experience if I’ve ever seen one.
It features a vegan cheese selection including Shamembert, Veganzola, Cheddah and Herbivorsin, alongside bread, house pickles, and apple chutney. There is the option to ask for gluten-free bread.
I’m impressed and I can’t wait to get along to the cafe on Brixton Road to partake. The Vegan Ploughman’s is available weekday lunch between 12pm and 4pm.
Follow Cafe Van Gogh on Instagram and see their menu online here. You can see the exact location of Cafe Van Gogh thanks to Google Maps.
Well, the human behind FGV was born in Queensland, Australia but FGV the concept came to life in London.
I was living in West London at the time I started this blog in 2010 and I went on to put a lot of effort into creating events for the vegan community. Remember my Hackney Downs Vegan Market? It turned the whole vegan thing upside down.
Before the market, I created and hosted London Vegan Beer Fest, London Vegan Drinks, and London Vegan Potluck. I enjoyed running events such as Bowling For Oceans, Skating For Oceans, and Vegan Day of the Dead supper clubs.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg lettuce.
My time in London was whittled down a few years back and the past few years have seen me spending a lot of time out of the UK capital, including time in Mexico City and Sheffield.
But now I am coming back! The original vegan grandpa of the plant-based scene is moving back to where it all began.
The first thing I have planned is to try to get a new vegan market off the ground. Click here to read all about Vegan Makers at Buck Street Market in Camden.
Also, I am getting involved with one of my favourite vegan brands on the planet. I will be helping legendary Temple of Seitan with promotion, helping them to take their irresistible fast food to the masses. You can follow Temple of Seitan on Instagram.
If you see me around London over the coming months, please say hello. I am really looking forward to being back in the thick of things.
It isn’t a stretch to say Hackney Downs Vegan Market was one of the most influential plant-based things to happen to London over the past 10 years.
The opening weekend welcomed approximately 5,000 people and the market acted as the launching pad for some of the most recognised vegan brands in the UK capital.
Ever since Hackney Downs Vegan Market came to an end, I’ve been thinking and dreaming of bringing another market to life.
It’s 2021 and I feel like it’s time to stop dreaming. I want to get a vegan market up and running again!
Fat Gay Vegan (that’s me) is teaming up with Buck Street Market on Camden Hight Street to launch a 5-day a week artisan market just for vegan products. Yes, that’s correct. 5-days a week, every week. The market will run 11am until 6pm from Wednesday until Sunday.
Vegan Makers at Buck Street is set to be a collection of stalls celebrating the best take home vegan products including deli items, cheese, pantry items homewares, clothing, candles, and personal products.
Located just a few steps from Camden Town Underground station on one of the busiest streets in the UK, Vegan Makers at Buck Street will be the most exciting place to shop in London for compassionate consumers.
Buck Street Market is a 3-level complex featuring rooftop bars, restaurants, street food, and shops. Vegan Makers will be in the central courtyard on street level, meaning our vegan stalls lead out to Camden High Street and are less than a 60-second walk from Camden Town Underground station.
Camden is undoubtedly the vegan centre of London and visitors to Buck Street will have a huge choice of places to dine in the area. Even though there will be no hot food on our market, Camden is simply overflowing with plant-based food outlets.
Buck Street Market itself is home to vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants and cafes, while legendary eateries Temple of Seitan and Purezza are only a 2-minute walk away (to name just two).
People can shop at Vegan Makers at Buck Street and then have the tough job of narrowing down the dozens of plant-based food choices in the neighbourhood.
The above photos shows what our stalls look like. They are white metal with folding doors on both sides, meaning traders can lock their stall at the end of each day and will only have to worry about transporting perishables each day. No clumsy stalls to pack up. No heavy gazebos to drag home.
Vegan Makers at Buck Street is a chance for vegan businesses and independent traders to have a mini shop in the heart of London without having to commit to huge rents and business rates. WiFi is available for traders to use for payment devices, while there will be limited electricity for some stalls.
This shopping district is one of the most desired in London and a spot in the Vegan Makers section will expose traders and brands to potentially tens of thousands of shoppers every day. Weekends on this street are particularly busy and a summertime coming out of lockdown means record numbers of shoppers are expected.
Examples of what we would love to see on the vegan market:
Cheese and deli items
Kombucha
Wine, spirits, and champagne to take home
Cake or patisserie
Personal care products
Zero waste
Candles and gifts
Cruelty free make up
Organic pantry items
Jewellery
Hats, shoes, sunglasses, and clothing
Vegan Makers at Buck Street plans to launch in June 2021.
We have great introductory rates for the first month (even lower if you commit to the full month). There is no market in Central London where you could trade in such a high profile spot at these prices.
If you are a trader and want more information about booking a stall, email josh@fgvpr.co.uk and he will fill you in. This market is for vegan products only and spots are offered for the full 5 days each week. There are no weekend-only spots.
PLEASE NOTE: there will be NO hot food or street food on the Vegan Makers section of Buck Street Market. There are many 100% vegan food spots in Camden right now and this artisan market has been designed to add value to the area for vegan visitors, not take away from businesses already in Camden.
Iconic London supermarket GreenBay (if you don’t know) is a 100% vegan grocery store based in Fulham, but they also send products out UK-wide via their online shop.
GreenBay is one of the finest places in the country to go for plant-based groceries, whether you are shooping online or in person.
And as if being the leading vegan supermarket of the region wasn’t enough for them, GreenBay have gone ahead and developed their own vegan meat range.
After partnering with a producer and undertaking lots of testing and tasting sessions, GreenBay is rolling out their new vegan meat products right now…. and you can try them for free!
The range so far includes:
Braised Sausages
Salami Style Slices
Quinoa & Tofu Sausages
As a special offer for the launch period, GreenBay is giving away this new range to online shoppers for free. Here are the details:
How to get the full range of products worth £11.09 for FREE?
Add to the cart all products you want, you can either select just one or all of them
Sharing is caring – make sure the quantities per item is just 1 so that everyone can enjoy the products
Check Out as usual – No codes needed (These products are chilled so the only options available at check out are Next Day Delivery DPD and Royal Mail 24)
GreenBay pack and ship your order
Receive & Enjoy 🙂
*This promotion is a limited time only until stock lasts – minimum order value excluding shipping and taxes is £10
Get behind this independent vegan business AND try some delicious new products.
Just for a little bit of fun, click here to see the live Facebook video I did from inside GreenBay just before they opened back in 2016. Take a look if you wanna see FGV and GreenBay from five years ago!
The superstar Brazilian eatery served loving and loyal customers in Shoreditch prior to landing in their new permanent home inside legendary LGBT+ venue, Dalston Superstore.
It’s a dream come true for lovers of vegan comfort food and queer bar excitement. Essential Vegan serve patrons inside the venue and even make the food for the weekend drag brunch!
If you like the sound of all that and you currently need employment, Essential Vegan is hiring.
They are looking for a part-time kitchen assistant/chef to join their small and lovely team from May 2021. You must know your way around a commercial kitchen and have Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate.
The job involves doing prep, service, cleaning and closing.
Interested? Send your CV to vanessa@essentialvegan.co.uk
If you get the job, make sure you keep watching for me in the crowd. I’ll be down there often for vegan eating and LGBT good times!
After surviving the past year and a bit, I don’t think I will ever complain about time dragging again.
Nothing could ever feel as long as the winter from which we emerged. I was finding it tough going.
But FINALLY it seems as though we are emerging from the gloom, so I thought it would be the perfect time to celebrate 10 vegan restaurants I am excited to rush back to in London.
My list is below. Be sure to click through and follow the businesses on Instagram and tell me your top picks in the comments.
10. Purezza had to be on this list. The pizza chain has locations popping up all over the place (including a spot in Manchester soon) but I need to get into the jumbo-sized Camden location on Parkway. The restaurant got an upgrade since I was last there and I’m excited to try it out. Follow Purezza on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE6rBbrpz9G/
9. I feel like a bad vegan. Itadakizen is a Japanese vegan restaurant in London that has been there for YEARS and I have only eaten there once. So slack of me. They recently gifted me their ramen sauce (amazing – read here) so I have a new appreciation and excitement for them. Follow Itadakizen on Instagram.
8. Copperhouse Chocolate is London’s only 100% vegan chocolate cafe and shop. Maybe it is the only one in the entire UK? I want to drop in for a chocolate drink, something chocolate-based to eat, and some handmade chocolates to take home with me. Follow Copperhouse Chocolate on Instagram.
7. This list would not be complete without the legendary Temple of Seitan. My fellow Aussies have become global names for the magic they create with vegan fried chicken. They have a few locations serving up some of the best comfort food on the planet, while there are rumours that a certain FGV might be helping them out with a few things in the near future. Follow Temple of Seitan on Instagram.
6. Essential Vegan lives! After closing their Shoreditch location, Essential Vegan came back strong with a permanent residency inside Dalston Superstore. If vegan food inside an LGBT venue doesn’t scream FGV, nothing does. Follow Essential Vegan on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COC_yqLpeGi/
5. Fancy casual dining rarely comes tastier than Wulf & Lamb. Now with two locations (Chelsea and Marylebone), Wulf & Lamb is my go to venue when I have friends visiting from outside London. I feel like I’m showing off! Follow Wulf & Lamb on Instagram.
4. Deserted Cactus is another place that makes me feel like a bad vegan because I have never eaten there. I am going to rectify this serious error ASAP after lockdown and restrictions. Peckham locals have been raving about this food and I want in on the good times. Follow Deserted Cactus on Instagram.
3. Why did I post a photo of people instead of food when listing Cafe Van Gogh? Because even though the food is seriously delicious, the people working at this Brixton vegan eatery are some of the nicest you will meet in the city. It is a total experience you will want to relive again and again. I can’t wait to get back. Follow Cafe Van Gogh on Instagram.
2. Oh, kebabs! Remember when What The Pitta opened in that little shed in Shoreditch and had lines for days?! People loved the food then and they love it even more now, with locations opening around the country. Make mine a snack box with burger sauce, please. Follow What The Pitta on Instagram.
Last but in no freaking way least, Cookies & Scream. I mean, what can I say about this absolutely amazing and legendary vegan business? The bakery is vegan and gluten free. You’ll always leave with a smile from ear to ear. Truly delicious. Follow Cookies & Scream on Instagram.
And I know I claimed to be making a list of 10 vegan places to revisit in London, but I’ve run out of space and decided I needed to include Young Vegans Pizza Shop. They are on track to re-open soon after taking care of the decorating that happened during lockdown (see below)! If this isn’t the best vegan pizza on the planet, it is darn well close. Follow Young Vegans Pizza Shop on Instagram.
A little while ago on my blog I gave a shout out to a vegan soap producer who donates profits to charities and community organisations.
Bars of Hope sell a gorgeous range of artisan bars that will leave you feeling squeaky clean and all warm and fuzzy. Not only are you buying fab vegan soap, every purchase will contribute much needed funds to a local charity or community organisation.
The organisation of choice being supported by Bars of Hope in April 2021 is The Outside Project.
The Outside Project is an LGBTIQ+ Community Shelter, Centre and Domestic Abuse Refuge in response to those within the LGBTIQ+ community who feel endangered, who are homeless, ‘hidden’ homeless and feel that they are on the outside of services due to historical and present prejudice in society and in their homes.
Services of The Outside Project include:
Provision of identity responsive housing and spaces for the LGBTIQ+ Community
Professional and ‘knowledge by experience’ peer-led support to LGBTIQ+ people in crisis
Advocacy for LGBTIQ+ rights and needs within wider systems and services
Promoting improved ‘social health’ and sobriety within the LGBTIQ+ Community
Developing relationships with services to strengthen support for the LGBTIQ+ Community
Sharing knowledge to educate others on the unique and complex needs of LGBTIQ+ people
If you have some spare cash, please treat yourself to gorgeous vegan soaps from Bars of Hope and direct some much-needed financial support to The Outside Project. Shop now.
Follow Bars of Hope on Instagram to stay updated on new products and to see who they will be supporting in the future.
If you think you or someone you know would benefit from being in touch with The Outside Project, visit their website. If you want to support the group financially without buying soap, donate online here.
It has not been a good run for Rudy’s Dirty Vegan Diner lately.
Firstly, there has been the very public and slightly mysterious departure of the London restaurant’s founders. For their part, the investors currently in charge of operations claim no ill will or underhandedness has gone on, however this post from co-founder Matthew doesn’t make it sound like a bed of roses.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLU0HXKJyZE/
In the instance you are unable to view the above post, I have copied the text below:
Dear All, Rudy and I have decided that we need to issue a short statement about our current situation. – We cannot go into details at this time, but I can confirm that Rudy and I are no longer affiliated with Rudy’s Dirty Vegan Diner, or Rudy’s Vegan Diner, or Rudy’s Vegan Butcher and we have not been involved with the businesses since the beginning of January 2021. – As we are sure you know we set up these businesses and we put our heart and soul into creating the business and all of its associated products. We were very sad to leave behind our creation, but as many of you know, we were never in it for the money, our driving force was always the welfare of the animals and the planet. We would like to extend our eternal thanks to all of our customers who have supported us so loyally over the years. It’s our hope that one day in the future we will start again from scratch and open a business which can continue to make a difference. Much love to all, Matthew and Rudy
It is sad news.
Independent vegan business can be brutal and this past year has stretched many owners beyond their emotional and financial limits.
I don’t know what has gone on between the founders and the investors, so I won’t speculate.
I just hope it all works out for the best for them. They have done so much to promote vegan lifestyles in London and they deserve professional and personal success.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move onto problem the second.
What the heck is going on with the Rudy’s Instagram account?!
I have no idea who is running the show over there but they need some crucial emergency interventions around inclusive language, sexism, and customer interactions.
Check out this Instagram post from yesterday, International Women’s Day 2021 (the post has since been deleted by the account following customer complaints):
In the instance you can’t see the post, it features a photo of a vegan burger and the text, “Happy Women’s Day to all the beautiful women out there that look as gorgeous as this Dirty burger’.
Right. Are you ready? Let’s begin.
This is one of the most inept and inconsiderate social media posts I have ever seen from a vegan company. It is simply contemptable.
I struggle to understand how a brand can miss the mark so badly and in follow up comments even go further to dig themselves into a hole. The screen grab above shows an interaction between the account and a customers in which their point of view is defended because their delicious burgers are, just like women, fundamental.
I am not often left speechless but this had me staring at my screen for a long time, mouth agape.
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.
So, nothing about celebrating gorgeous women and comparing them to juicy vegan burgers then? No?
This type of bullshit needs to be called out, especially in the London vegan community.
Many of us work hard to challenge this sort of harmful nonsense because we care about women. Our compassionate lifestyle choice is not a platform from which to launch misogynistic missives in order to sell food for a profit.
I haven’t seen an apology or statement of understanding from the people currently running Rudy’s.
The brand removed the offensive post and replaced it with this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMKNjNvhfLt/
Happy International Women’s Day? This date is the publicly recognised collective front for global women’s movements to redress violence, sexism, economic disparity, and misogyny. It is a day to raise the voices and achievements of women.
It is not a catchphrase to help you shift plant-based protein.
This post reads like a lazy attempt to fix the previous terrible take. Kind of like piling a spoon of sugar on top of a steaming shit.
You don’t have to look too far to find further evidence of how women are framed in the world of Rudy’s social media. Take a look at this atrocity of an Instagram post from yesterday (yes, also on IWD 2021).
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMHgAU1BVal/
I will admit this one is as confusing as it is offensive. Is the cow giving a look that things are about to get Dirty AF? Is this the sexualisation of a dairy cow statue in order to sell vegan cheese sticks?
Carol J. Adams, where are you? This one is too much for me.
London, if you are going to spend your money with companies like Rudy’s you need to also hold them accountable for harmful advertising tactics. It is the VERY LEAST we can do. The bare minimum.
We don’t need to accept the use of sexist advertising in our community. We really don’t and we shouldn’t.
Rudy’s. Get it together. If you are unsure of how and why you can do better, listen to your customers when they tell you… and they have been telling you.
