From thepress.co.nz
It can be surprising to find out the food you think is free from animal products, isn’t - some brands of chips, cereals and salted peanuts have more in their ingredients than you might think.
Two vegans are taking the uncertainty out of buying food by creating The Plantbased Pantry and Cafe in Ashburton.
“There is an easy way to live that lifestyle and turn that shopping into something that’s more enjoyable rather than a chore,” co-owner Tony Hilton said.
Hilton and his partner, Garry Clegg, opened the Mid Canterbury store in January after a change in career and location for the pair.
Both were brought up in Auckland and spent hours a day commuting until “we decided we wanted to stop doing that”, Hilton said.
Leaving the city behind, the couple jumped in a caravan with plans to travel the country for a few months. Nine months later, the adventure of looking for the place they both wanted to “put down some new roots in” had them settling in Ashburton, 80km south of Christchurch.
“We were surprised how taken we were with Ashburton; it was the place out of everywhere [where] we felt, ‘This is really cool, there’s a lot going on and a lot happening, and the community is really great’.”
Restocking their campervan with plant-based food during their trip was a “mission”, Hilton said, which inspired the couple’s business idea - a store that had already read the labels for people cutting animal products from their diet.
“We wanted to make it easy to shop plant based and essentially shop vegan foods.
“It’s quite different from what either of us have done.”
Hilton had been in marketing and retail, and Clegg was in inventory control, but eating plant-based food gave them all the knowledge and preparation they needed.
“When we met [nearly six years ago], Garry had been vegan for about 11 years and I was just beginning to make the transition to reducing animal products and cutting red meat out of my diet because it made me feel better when I did.”
The former Miyabi Asian restaurant now hosts The Plantbased Pantry store and cafe, which has yet to reach its full potential as the pair continue to grow their stock and diversify.
“We don’t want it to only be plant-based. Everyone has all sorts of preferences and desires. It’s a safe place to explore other options ... to avoid research of product packaging.”
Everything is vegan, but organic, gluten free, nut free and low or no sugar options are also being slowly introduced to the shelves.
The cafe sells sweet and savoury cabinet food, following the store’s plant-based theme, and much of it is made by the couple using tried and tested recipes, including salads, chia puddings, chocolate and protein balls.
Hilton said the best part of retail was being able to help people solve problems, and many customers were asking for advice to maintain a plant-based diet.
“We don’t put ourselves on a pedestal, we’re just a couple of guys who have what we think is a really good business idea, operating in a community that has lots of people travelling through.
“We’ve tried really hard to take the community here on as much of the journey as we can.”
* The Plantbased Pantry and Cafe is at 4/660 East St, Ashburton.
https://www.thepress.co.nz/business/360612767/vegan-business-taking-chore-out-reading-food-labels
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