Kiss My Grass

Question 1: What’s your 30-second elevator pitch for your company, to explain it to someone who’s never heard of you before? What makes you unique?

Kiss My Grass is a vegan restaurant all about livin’ on the veg. We don’t believe you have to replicate traditional meaty dishes or go completely raw in order to create delicious vegan food, it’s all about making veg the star of the show, rather than the supporting act, which you can see throughout our menu.

 Question 2: Where did the idea for your business come from? What’s the story behind your company?

When my sister-in-law (who was vegan) moved in with us a couple of years ago, we were surprised about the lack of vegan options in South-West London. Restaurants would occasionally have a vegan option on the menu, but it usually seemed pretty unappealing and lacking in creativity. Of course, there were some specialist vegan restaurants who bucked this trend, but we were surprised on how many places simply focused on fast food (e.g. vegan burgers, vegan fried chicken) and used meat substitutes as a core part of their offering. We therefore felt there was a real opportunity for a vegan restaurant that showed you can create tasty, innovative dishes that focus on the veg.

Question 3: Did you face any obstacles when setting up your company? How did you overcome that obstacle?

The hardest aspect of setting up the restaurant, and certainly the most time consuming, was upgrading the electricity supply. This was something we didn’t even consider when we picked the location, but it turned out the previous users (a Chinese restaurant) relied predominantly on gas. Given that we wanted to instead use electricity (from renewable sources) and given the various appliances we wanted to use (coffee machine, drinks display, wine fridge, dishwasher, etc.) we had to upgrade the electricity supply. Managing and overseeing UK Power, the contractors, the landlord, etc. was a long and difficult process but one that is thankfully now long behind us!

 Question 4: If you could tell your past-self one thing, looking back, what would it be? What advice would you give to someone starting out in the food industry?

I think we were perhaps naïve in hoping we’d be really busy from day one. We had focused so much of our efforts on getting the restaurant open, that we’d somewhat neglected the advertising and marketing. But people obviously need to know about you to come in! Since opening, we’ve put a lot of effort in making the restaurant more visible, both physically from the street (adding outdoor furniture, a chalk board, etc.) and digitally (using social media, search, PR, etc.).

Question 5: What’s something you’re most proud of when it comes to the product you deliver?

While we had a strong sense of the style, concept and brand for the restaurant, my husband and I are certainly not chefs, so the food was the biggest variable outside of our control. However, we found an excellent Head Chef, Harj, who has been instrumental in designing and continually improving the menu. For us, it’s wonderful to see so many empty plates, and happy customers in the restaurant alongside the positive feedback and great reviews that we have online.

Question 6: What would you want the future of your company to look like?

We’re constantly looking at adding to our offering — we recently launched a lunch menu and are currently experimenting with a mocktail list. In the future, it’d be great to open more locations, either full restaurants or locations purely designed for delivery. We’d also like to look at improving vegan options available at corporate events and weddings, so catering is also something we’d like to consider in the future.

Question 7: How can we learn more? Give us your socials! We’ll put a link to you guys in the article and the newsletter so people can come and find you!

Give us a follow on –

· Facebook — @Kissmygrassuk

· Instagram — @kissmygrass_uk

· Twitter — @kissmygrassuk

· Website — www.kissmygrass.co