It’s clear to all that the vegan industry is on the rise, making a huge impact ethically and financially on a global scale. No longer seen as radical and left wing, with ‘out there’ ideas, the vegan lifestyle is being embraced by all walks of life. With veganism a viable and thriving industry worldwide, more and more people are now searching not only for vegan food and clothing options, but also for jobs within the industry, ideally in ethical, sustainable and innovative companies. We met up with a few people working in the vegan industry here in the UK.
BLACK ARTS VEGAN – LUE CUTTIFORD
I founded Black Arts Vegan in October of 2017 and I juggle it with a part-time job to supplement my income. I started the business because I’ve been vegan for eight years and I just didn’t want to spend the rest of my life not being able to eat cheese on toast! After a bit of trial and error, I started to make really good hand-made vegan cheese that melts well and tastes like the real thing. Mostly, I sell at weekend markets like Hackney Downs Vegan Market and sometimes get invited to do special events. Right now, I’m building my portfolio of catering clients so that I can make Black Arts Vegan a full-time business.
Every single day is diff erent, which is fantastic because variety is what I always wanted in my work. The learning curve has been crazy, but really fun – I now know bits about business planning, marketing, branding, product development, sales, accounting and bookkeeping, networking and lots more. At the moment I’m producing and directing a short promotional video, so you just never know where the job will take you! Of course, the most important aspect of what I do (and for any start-up) is innovation. Sometimes that can get lost in the to-do list and, truthfully, my own fear. Learning to be scared and doing things anyway has definitely paid dividends. One other really big lesson I learned was over-investing in something before you know if it will do well. I made some special cheeses earlier in the year, spent about £200 on outlay for it, made lots and lots of product and ended up selling about four units. It was a hard but important lesson to learn! If you are interested in contacting BlackArts