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ISLEOFMANEXAMINER

www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, September 14, 2021

FOOD AND FARMING with Julie Blackburn

A vegan business? It’s more than just falafels... S ometimes in life, things just fall into place as if theywere meant to be. WhenAli Bri- popular product.’

WhenShoprite agreed to give thema trial, Ali was still cooking everything himself inhis kitchen at home. He says: ‘As thework increased we realised thatwe needed a facility quite quickly, and other employees - a bit of help.’ The opportunity to rent a unit at Balthane came up and ‘we grabbed it straightaway’. Itwas aswell that they did: the trial withShoprite wentwell with a good re- sponse to their products and the pace really started to pick up. Josh says: ‘Shoprite have been amazing: they’ve really helpedpushus andpromote us on their Facebookpages andnowwe’re inmost of the stores. ‘We’ve also been inRob- insons at Ballapaddag for a couple ofmonths nowand it’s going reallywell there.’ They reckon their best- selling products are their brownies, the arancini (made withwildmushrooms and butternut squash), themush- roomand redwine gravy pie and the hummus. Their sushi rolls are also proving popular. Josh says: ‘Whenwefirst made themwe couldn’t be- lieve it – they taste somuch like sushi.’ They aremadewith rice andnori but use vegetables, garlic and oystermushrooms instead of rawfish and they pack a bigflavour punch. They are currentlywork- ing ondeveloping a pesto pasta salad and a gluten free rangewhich they say a lot of people have been asking for. But they have evenbigger plans in theworks for the future. Theywant to start ex- porting their products. Ali says: ‘As soon aswefill themarket here andbuild up to the pointwherewe can start pushing on, that’s wherewe’re going.’ Having ridden the up- surge inpopularity in vegan- ismover the last fewyears raises the obvious question of how long this can continue to fuel growth in their busi- ness. In the end it probably won’tmatter: these are lo- callymade products and, on those days youdon’t fancy cooking yourself, they are tasty enough even for the meat lovers to enjoy. Especially the arancini...

erley, recovering fromthe break-up of a long-termre- lationship, went to staywith anold friend inManchester to take stock of his life he had no idea of whatwas about to unfold - andwhere itwould lead themboth. Itwas the beginning ofMarch last year andhis friend, JoshParker, hadbeen studying for amusic degree there. Ali says: ‘I got tohis flat and the next day the lock- down came. I arrivedwith a bagwith about three days of clothes in it andwas stuck there for three and a half months.’ He had spent the previous 10 years inYorkshire, work- ing as a chef in a range of ven- ues, cooking every style of cuisine, fromfish and chips toMichelin starred. He’d also done a fewyears as a baker. He says: ‘I’ve always been a chef, allmy adult life, so I thought: “If I’mgoing to be here, I’ll do all the cooking”.’ Josh at this point had already been vegan for five years so clearly thiswaswhat Ali wouldbe cooking. He says: ‘Veganwas some- thing that I haddone before, and I’d got a lot of experience with the ingredients. I know what flavourswork together so itwas quite easy forme to do. People say tome: “How do you cope on a vegandiet?” and I say: “Well it’s quite simple really: you’ve got every single ingredient in the world and all you’ve got to do

JoshParker (left) andAli Brierley

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here to live.

is take themeat, fish, dairy and eggs out of it”.’ Not onlywas Josh living like a kingwithAli’s cook- ing, he also realised that he might have found the ideal opportunity to pitch a busi- ness idea tohis friend, for an artisanbusiness selling vegan food. Josh says: ‘I’dhad this idea for a fewyears but I knew I couldn’t do it alone.My expertise is in sales and cus- tomer service. I knewAli was more than capable and I sold him, not just on this idea but on this beautiful islandwe live on aswell,moving over

came popular very quickly. Josh says: ‘Itwas very busy during lockdown. It turned out to be a great time for us to start.’ Ali agrees: ‘People say: “Howdid you start a busi- ness inCovid?” If anything it helpedus. People began to bemore health conscious, to exploremore. Youhadmore time to sit and think about it: what amI doingwithmy life howcan I help improve it? ‘And you get great support here: it’s a small community and everybody just sort of bands together. If they see somebody trying tomake a go of it you tend to get a lot of support.’ Theyworked very closely withDEFA to developprod- ucts using asmanyManx in- gredients as possible. ‘We’ve had a lot of help fromDEFA it’s been fantas- tic: grants andwe’ve alsohad help to get accredited [with theManx provenance label]. Every single one of our prod- ucts is accredited asmade in the Isle ofMan, which is obviouslymassive for us, especiallywhenwe start ex- porting down the line,’ says Ali. ‘We couldn’t have asked for anymore help,’ agrees Josh. Clearly not every ingre-

dient canbeManx but Ali says: ‘The things thatwe use very regularly are local. All our flour is fromLaxey FlourMills; all the rapeseed oil thatwe use in the pastry, the dressings and the hum- mus, is grown andbottled at Ellerslie Farm; our herbs we get fromStaarvey Farm, andwe get our produce from Robinson’s. ‘If it’s not grownor pro- duced in the island andhas to be shippedwe tend touse a local supplier to get it. Even the packagingwe use is from MannVend.’ T hey areworking onmaking every element of their packaging eco- friendly, recy- clable or compostable or a combination and they hope tohave achieved thiswithin the next sixmonths. As the island openedup andpeople hadmore shop- ping options it became clear that they needed to change their businessmodel. Josh says: ‘When the lockdowns started to easewe realised that just delivering alonewouldn’t be enough so we knew itwas time to ap- proachShoprite becausewe had a goodmodel there at that point, wewere a proven

‘Itwas just perfect timing. ‘I knewtherewas a gap in themarket here because inManchester there are so many options for vegans it was just everywhere you go there’s amazing places you can eat.’ They arrived in the island in July 2020 andby February this year theywere ready to launchVeg andVitality, sell- ing their products through theirwebsite. A third lock- down, which followed short- ly after,meant that their model based ononline order- ing anddoorstepdelivery be-

Plant-based foodproducerVegandVitalitymaking falafel