This video series is my way of trying to keep spirits up in the vegan community, give you a friendly face to look forward to each evening, and support independent vegan business.
Links for things I discuss are all below. Please click and share.
A gorgeous new vegan food business in Somerset called Plantsidecafe was only open a week and has closed due to the global crisis. Follow them on social media for when they reopen:
Goyo’s Burgers is a vegan fast food joint that JUST opened in Mexico City. Please follow them on Instagram to help cheer them up at this difficult time: https://www.instagram.com/goyosburgers/
I’m listening to a lot of Trixie Mattel music! All links for music, rescheduled tour dates, and a make up line being switched to all vegan: https://www.trixiemattel.com/
These videos are happening daily to help keep our spirits up within the vegan community and draw attention to independent businesses that are struggling, charities that need our help, and musicians that need support.
Links for everything I mention are below.
Check out this GOOD NEWS story about food outreach being undertaken by a vegan business in Tennessee: https://tinyurl.com/vpat2dg
Hi all. Fat Gay Vegan back again with another video to try and keep spirits high within the vegan community AND draw your attention to independent businesses and charities that need our support.
Links are below for everything I discuss. Please add your own links and suggestions in the comments.
Unicorn Grocery is a vegan coop supermarket in Manchester. They now have special opening time slots for 70+ and vulnerable people. Support this vegan business: https://www.unicorn-grocery.coop/
I don’t know how you are all coping with me saying the same thing over and over, because I’m even sick of the sound of my own voice.
It is distressing to watch all of our vegan money be sucked up by huge corporations while independently owned local vegan business go under.
Ms Cupcake of London has recently announced they will be closing their doors (read about it here) and now we have this warning shot being fired by vegan pizza specialists Zad’s of Manchester.
Read the fill statement below:
It’s been a tough six months for us, here at Zads. We sent an email out around New Year explaining many of the issues we had been having, but it seems to have been picked up by a lot of junk mail filters (the Happy New Year subject probably could have done with being a little more original perhaps).
As many others have already said, the mainstreaming of veganism is incredible and something we’ve all dreamt of for a long time, but it comes at the expense of many vegan businesses; hardly a week goes by now that we don’t hear of another independent vegan business calling it quits and shutting up shop. We’re not quite ready for that yet, but we do need to make a few changes.
From this week, we will now be closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays, plus we will not be opening until 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
For some time now, our weekday takings have all but disappeared. It is not uncommon for us to not even take enough to cover staff wages, let alone the cost of the food we’re selling and the other costs which come with running a business. We have always been in the fortunate position of not being here to make a fortune. The owner of Zad’s has never taken a penny of income from the business and the business was set up as an extension of the vegan activism which he and the other founding staff members feel is so important.
We hope that compressing our opening hours a little will make the business a little more viable and if it is possible, we will take the opportunity to hire an extra driver at the weekend, to help take off some of the strain during busy periods. We would also dearly love to pay our staff a little more too, which they so thoroughly deserve. This also means that a small price increase is coming in the next couple of months, along with a few small changes to our menu.
Thank you all for your wonderful support, every order, every positive review, or lovely message, really does mean the world to us. We’re trying our very best to make this work, but we can promise you it’s not easy. Many sleepless nights over the last six to twelve months and probably more to come.
We have been inundated with amazing reviews recently, so we know you love what we do – we do, too.
If we do not support independent vegan businesses, they will disappear. When we only spend our money in huge conglomerates, our money disappears out of our communities. Local people cannot make a living being vegan if we don’t support them. They can’t pay their bills. They can’t employ other local people.
If you live near Zad’s and you have the spare cash to eat takeaway food occasionally, please make a pledge to do it.
Hot on the news that Sheffield’s adored vegan grocery store The Incredible Nutshell is for sale (read here), we now hear about another successful UK business on the market.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmaUoyAnbfH/
The Cornish Vegan is an award winning and massively loved vegan eatery in Truro, Cornwall.
Here is what owners Dawn and Paul said on their website regarding the decision to close:
Our goal when starting The Cornish Vegan in 2016 was to become the best vegan eatery in Cornwall within 5 years. Little did we expect that to happen so quickly, especially the awards and TripAdvisor rankings, obviously achieved with the support of our loyal customers. Even now as the business thrives, customers often mention the potential of adding breakfasts, evenings, Sundays and franchising.
However, as our motto reads: “Nothing is as certain as the unforeseen.” Having been full on for nearly 4 years now, all this effort has left us extremely tired. So now we would like to take a step back to enjoy a quieter life in Cornwall.
Therefore, we have decided to put the business on the market. Hopefully someone will want to take over The Cornish Vegan as a going concern and build on our success. We would even help the new owner during the handover in order to make the transition as seamless as possible for our customers. Perhaps you or someone you know might be interested in running a successful vegan business?
This is a wonderful opportunity to step into a successful and established business in a gorgeous town.
If you are interested, email dawn@thecornishvegan.com for more details. And keep eating with them while Dawn and Paul are still in charge!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzaOdt2HTJ9/
Be sure to follow The Cornish Vegan on Instagram to stay updated on the new owners!
Will’s Vegan Store has long been the go to place online for compassionate shoppers looking for friendly footwear.
Will Green has amassed a huge and loyal clientele thanks to his on trend styles and ethical approach to production.
But it’s not just shoes and boots flying off the shelves at Will’s warehouse.
The UK company has launched a selection of eco-friendly and vegan clothing.
This is what Will has to say about their recycled cotton garments:
We have chosen to use recycled cotton because it has less impact on the environment vs new cotton, including organic. Recycled cotton does not need to be grown which means it saves on water, energy, fertiliser, pesticide (for non organic cotton) and co2 emissions from its farming & transport. Our recycled cotton is created with pre dyed off cuts from the textile industry. On average each garment in the collection has saved 33 litres of water and 2.6kw electricity because it has not been dyed. It has also helped reduce the waste disposal of these offcuts which are usually incinerated.
Will’s Vegan Store proudly states that everything they make and do is certified Carbon Neutral.
There is no packaging waste, as they only use biodegradable plastic free packaging from the paper bags to the paper tape they use to seal them.
Click here to visit the Will’s Vegan Store website and check out all the clothing and footwear. There is a lot to see!
A vitamin and supplement company has just released a big range of vegan products and they are available in many major stores and supermarkets.
Naturopathica has just released ten vegan products and the range includes:
Active B12
Calcium Plus Vitamin K2
Collagen Health
Glucosamine
Iron Plus Vitamin C & Broccoli Powder
Magnesium
Multivitamin Plus Spirulina
Omega 3
Probiotic Plus Prebiotic
Vitamin D
Take a look at the advert.
The vegan range from Naturopathic is available from Chemist Warehouse, Coles supermarkets, Good Price Pharmacy, independent pharmacies, and a few online retailers.
If you are outside Australia, I am yet to find any stores with an international delivery option except Good Price Pharmacy which delivers to China only.
You can see the full vegan range from Naturopathic online here.
