Name: Kim Negri
Business name: Vegan Goodies Wales
Opening hours: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8.30am to 2.30pm
When did you open your business and why?
I OPENED the business in October last year, and one of the reasons I opened was because I became a vegan myself around a year-and-a-half ago.
I wanted to throw myself into cooking some vegan food – it can be relatively simple to cook vegetarian food, but with vegan food it can be a bit more challenging, especially because you’re not using traditional cheese, eggs and milk for example.
I started experimenting with new recipes last year and was lucky enough to get a unit in the market soon after.
Why in this location?
IT’S A social place and there are quite a few wholefoods shops here – we also have Fat Rabbit here which is also vegan.
Oswestry pulls in a lot of people from outside the town, not just those living in it, so it made sense to start it up here as quite a central point.
Tell us about your business
I SELL a variety of vegan goods, and I think one of the things that attracts people to my business is that I also look after those who have certain food allergies, intolerances or have quite specific diets.
I do a lot of vegan pies and a lot of them are a play on meat pies – for example I have the chick-free and mushroom pie, a fish-free pie, a no-steak bake etc.
I also offer a range of different quiches, lots of different cakes and I offer a range of olives, breads and other things.
On top of that, I think I might be one of the largest stockers of vegan cheeses in the area, I do 35 different ones.
And also a range of things for people who might have picnics or barbecues.
I’d say there are a lot of returning customers, but you get people trying things, especially during Veganuary.
What I’ve found during the lockdown is that there were a lot of customers who wanted items delivered, and that has continued.
What is your proudest moment?
I THINK in particular, December and this month have been brilliant – I did a lot of Christmas hampers during December and that was really nice.
It was a really nice feeling being around the market at Christmas as well.
I’ve now branched out to working in the market in Llanfyllin as well as Oswestry which is fun – and it’s really nice getting the feedback from people.
What I am proud of is that I do try to source local produce.
I will always try to get ingredients and products from as local as possible, but failing that, I’ll always try to get it from the UK – that’s what I’m particularly proud of.
Any strange requests?
Not really no – I have had people who will ask me to make them something really specific or something that isn’t on the menu, but nothing too odd.
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