From somersetlive.co.uk
Discover how Ellie Brown turned a blender and a vision into Kinda Co, the vegan cheese brand that’s redefining dairy-free deliciousness
Ellie Brown’s journey from a one-bedroom flat in Islington to the founder of a burgeoning vegan cheese empire is nothing short of remarkable. At 38, Ellie transformed her passion for dairy-free alternatives into a thriving business, Kinda Co, which has captured the hearts and taste buds of vegans and cheese aficionados.
“Sometimes I call myself the big cheese; sometimes I call myself the founder,” Ellie quipped. Her journey began six and a half years ago with nothing more than a blender and a vision.
“I started the Kinda Co in a tiny one-bed flat in Islington with one blender and a load of cashews, and it grew from there,” she recalled. Having moved from London to a dairy farm in Somerset after lockdown, the business is now based at Food Works in Weston-Super-Mare.
Ellie’s transition to veganism was the catalyst for her culinary adventure. After eating nothing but toast for two weeks, she craved something more, especially cheese.
“I tried all the specialist ones, all the fancy expensive ones I could find at the time, which was hard eight years ago, and they all just tasted nothing like cheese,” she explained.
Undeterred, Ellie began crafting her recipes, experimenting and tweaking until she created something delicious. “I don't think most people know how to make dairy cheese,” she said. “Vegan cheese is a massive leap for a lot of people.
“I teach many cheese-making classes, and I always tell people we are venturing into very new territory. It is a new discipline, but the internet is a wonderful thing as I Googled vegan cheese recipes, found a few and a niche book, and started there.
“They got my interest, but they weren't quite right, so I tweaked and tinkered. I love cooking so it was a pleasure for me and continued until I got something that was delicious.”
Her homemade vegan cheese quickly gained popularity among friends and family, leading her to sell out at markets every weekend, in between her career as a nanny and studying child psychotherapy. “I spent all my evenings during the week making the cheese after work, going to the market in Hackney on Saturday mornings, and I would sell out in hours,” she said.
It was a labour of love, hand-wrapping and stickering each product, driven not by the desire to start a business but by the joy of creation and the growing demand. “Often when people eat the vegan cheese from Kinda Co, their reaction is of surprise. That's why I love offering samples, as somebody who says they don't like vegan cheese can be persuaded otherwise.
“Getting it into people's mouths is the biggest thing for us, and I can do markets and samplings as much as I like, but I'm trying to convey that to customers. Especially if you've had a bad experience with vegan cheese, it makes you less likely to want to try again.
“Not all vegan cheese is bad. We've won awards and received excellent reviews. I think we're just trying to instil in people the confidence that it does taste nice.”
As Kinda Co grew, Ellie faced the challenge of scaling up. She sought a bigger kitchen, leading to the Food Works in Weston-Super-Mare. “It was so beautiful and so clean, and everyone was so nice,” she describes her first impression of the facility that would become Kinda Co’s new home.
Ellie and her partner had been looking at areas around London but decided, “If we’re going to move, we should just move somewhere beautiful, not Croydon.”
“That was on the back of lockdown, so everything that made London fun hadn't happened for two years. My partner is from Thornbury, so it was just like the stars aligned,” she said.
'The dairy cheese community has been welcoming'
The couple moved to a dairy farm at Yatton. “I think it's a lovely story that we've moved to Somerset, the home of cheese,” she said. “On the whole, I found the dairy cheese community very welcoming. I've had a lot of help from dairy producers with testing new packaging and helping us with supplies.
“People have sometimes been wary initially, but then we have won them over, and they've been welcoming. Some people tell us it’s not cheese and don't want to talk to us about it, but each to their own.”
The farm she now lives on is run by a third-generation farmer who is lactose intolerant. “I gave him some of our cheese; he loves it,” she said.
The move was a strategic step, allowing her to continue production with minimal downtime and to seek SALSA accreditation, which is a benchmark of quality and safety. Food Works offers business units to companies such as Ellie’s, as well as advice and help, which has seen the company grow further.
Today, it employs six people. “We already had all the equipment in our kitchen in London, so I just needed somewhere that was a blank canvas, but that had all the requirements,” Ellie said.
“For a food business, you need floor drainage, specific walls, and space to wash your hands and wash food. Food Works was a blank canvas, but it had all the requirements. I unloaded all my equipment in a van, and we were ready to roll again. We only closed the business for two weeks.
“I knew the recipes, and I knew how to make our products taste good, but the team at Food Works was instrumental in teaching us how to use different tools and technology to extend our shelf life, improve our packaging, and other things like that.”
Ellie’s approach to vegan cheese-making combines traditional techniques with innovative methods, using nuts as a base for all products. She explained that they ferment them and combine traditional and new cheese-making techniques. This process has allowed Kinda Co to offer over 12 products with distinct flavours and textures.
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis, Ellie’s resilience and the loyalty of her customers have seen Kinda Co through tough times. “Last year was tough for us because our costs went up 30 per cent, and we can’t put our prices up 30 per cent, so we’ve had to absorb that,” she admits. Yet, her optimism shines through as she looks to the future, with plans to expand into supermarkets and continue growing her brand.
Ellie said: “We are a delicious choice if you don’t want to eat dairy, and giving people a choice.” She hopes to soon sell in supermarkets across the UK and is eyeing certain suitors as demand grows.
“There's a bit of a funny thing with the vegan category in general because there has been a turn away from strict veganism,” she explained. “I think the dairy-free and the free-from categories are still very much in demand.
“People aren't necessarily sticking to narrow descriptions anymore and are much more flexitarian. They might want to reduce their dairy intake but not have a problem eating eggs. Our sales are growing, so people are buying it.”
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/award-winning-vegan-cheese-made-9204233
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