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.
After opening in Chelsea in 2017, Wulf & Lamb has been at the forefront of the plant-based casual dining scene in London, offering an array of vegan dishes including their greatly adored Chilli-non- Carne, Wulf Burger, and Cauliflower steak.
Wulf & lamb has been one of my favourite places to eat in the UK since they opened, so this news of a second location is certainly a cause for celebration.
The new location on Chiltern Street, Marylebone boasts 90 seats and will offer full table service, outdoor seating, and a bar with an exciting cocktail menu.
There will be a number of exciting new dishes added to the menu including Glazed Miso Aubergine, Bao, Artichoke Pesto Linguine, and Crème Brûlée developed by Head Chef Konstantinos Kotidis.
I’m so excited for this addition to the London food landscape.
Founder Philip Ryan said:
We are thrilled to be opening in Marylebone. Since we opened in Chelsea three years ago we have been delighted by the growing trend for plant-based eating. Our customers have fallen in love with our take on classic comfort foods including Mac-n-Cheese and Wulf Pie. For Marylebone we’ve added more dishes including starters, indulgent desserts, and a full cocktail and wine list.
Wulf & Lamb Marylebone will open to the public on Thursday February 27, 2020 from 7:30am – 10:30pm, 7 days a week.
You can see the exact location of the new Marylebone Wulf & Lamb online thanks to Google Maps.
It has been just over 24 hours since the announcement was made, so the feelings are still fresh.
Legendary (I mean, really REALLY legendary) vegan bakery business Ms. Cupcake announced it is set to close in March 2020.
This is sad news but of course it is not completely surprising.
I talk with vegan business owners often and they are struggling. People want convenience and are willing to sacrifice independently owned vegan businesses to get it. It feels like our community is increasingly becoming a block of faceless consumers unable (or unwilling) to support small business.
This phenomenon already happened to non-vegan businesses, with many independent stores shuttering their doors over the past few decades.
Now it feels like it is veganism’s turn to lose our pioneering retailers and business owners to big ticket capitalism.
The Ms. Cupcake bakery in Brixton stayed open a lot longer than it should have thanks to owner and founder Mellissa Morgan and her ingenuity, talent, and compassion. The vegan retail scene changed drastically and radically, but Mellissa kept her head above water with savvy choices. Her cupcake distribution deal with Whole Foods Market stores was one of the first major deals of its kind for a vegan business in the UK.
If you want to know what hard work looks like, study the output of Ms. Cupcake.
Mellissa started her business with all-night baking marathons followed by all-day selling stints at outdoor markets. She turned the London vegan scene upside down with her delicious and inventive creations, giving us hope that a better future for animals was around the corner and it included cake.
The Ms. Cupcake business was born at a time when London was still a struggle for vegans. Seriously, if you were vegan ten years ago you will know exactly what I’m talking about.
Mellissa showed us that we could expect more as vegan consumers while she also inspired dozens and dozens of others to take a risk with vegan business.
Ms. Cupcake didn’t just open the door through which other superstar vegans businesses strolled. Mellissa’s bakery smashed the door off its hinges.
We suddenly had a world class vegan food business and is not dramatic to say it felt like a hopeful new dawn for London.
The opening of the physical bakery location in Brixton took things to another level.
People would come from all over the UK to visit the bakery. Remember, this was long before vegan cake options were even a thought for Costa or Tesco. Ms. Cupcake gave us a peek into a strange new world and we lost our collective shit over it.
People would even come straight from the airport with their luggage because of all the hype. They couldn’t wait.
Mellissa wasn’t just a clever and talented cake maker. She showed us you could do all of this and also do what was right for your community.
Because of her kindness, the Ms. Cupcake and Fat Gay Vegan stories are inextricably connected. Mellissa went above and beyond what most would do by allowing me to start my monthly London Vegan Potluck social event (and then host it for six months) in the space outside her shop.
Four years later, when London Vegan Potluck was coming to and end, Mellissa and her team showed up to our final event with a personalised cake to thank me for my contributions to the London vegan community.
When London was absolutely bereft of exciting vegan social events, Mellissa allowed me to host a vegan pizza party in her shop on two occasions. I was desperate to create social capital for vegans and Mellissa and her bakery team were on the frontline with me.
I was once in the pub a few doors down from the Ms. Cupcake bakery, indulging in a few afternoon beers, when a random local pub goer noticed I had a box of Ms. Cupcake goodies on my table. He told me that when violent protests erupted around London (including Brixton) during August 2011 following the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of police, Mellissa went into the streets and gave away cakes to protestors.
This local pub goer had tears in his eyes as he told me that nobody touched or went near Mellissa’s bakery during the violence because of her act of support, solidarity, and community strengthening. He said everyone around those parts saw her as a good person and a treasured member of their community.
Through the bakery, Mellissa gave many people their first ever vegan job. Her team evolved over the years, however Mellissa always kept a strong, dedicated, and well trained group of people by her side.
I’m even friends with some of her team members to this day!
Mellissa gave her time and expertise with grace and humility.
Following on from her groundbreaking and highly-influential recipe book (which you need to order online here), many people started copycat baking businesses around the UK.
When I would ask her about this, Mellissa would shrug and wish them well. She really just wanted vegan cake to be everywhere and understood that she had created a sugary monster that she couldn’t control, so instead she hoped for the best for all the people following in her footsteps.
If you attended community events and vegan fairs in the early days, Mellissa could be found giving up her precious time and expertise for cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, and personal appearances. She worked as hard on building our vegan scene as she did on her own business.
At a time when we were all scrambling to build a vegan movement that would put compassion into the mainstream, Mellissa was ahead of the game with a world class product and an unwavering smile on her face.
I would never be able to overstate how important her role was in making veganism the unstoppable social and commercial concern it is now.
Mellissa might very well be the most important vegan business person that London has ever known. She is the original. Vegan Nights. Temple of Seitan. Hackney Downs Vegan Market. We all followed.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ms. Cupcake.
Extra note: I think you should all follow Ms. Cupcake on Instagram. Something tells me that she will be back with vegan goodness in some form before we know it.
Extra extra note: for goodness sake, buy her cookbook online NOW. Let’s send Mellissa out with a bang.
