SAVOUR & S I P
VEGANUARY
PIONEERING LOCAL VEGAN CAFE STEM & GLORY SHARES THE STORY BEHIND ITS RISE TO SUCCESS – AND SOME DELICIOUS RECIPES Crowning GLORY
WORDS BY NICOLA FOLEY
and a third coming soon to Broadgate, near Liverpool Street Station, as well as an online store delivering meals and merch all over the UK. The company’s mission, says Louise, is about serving plant-based food delicious enough to turn everyone vegan – and to do so in a way that is light on the planet. That’s not lip service: after much hard work, Stem & Glory is now, proudly, a net zero company. It’s a rare thing that an independent cafe manages to expand into a second or third branch, let alone successfully rolling out its offering in the saturated London dining market – while a global pandemic rages on, no less. So, what’s the secret to Stem & Glory’s amazing ascent? Louise thinks it boils down to having a great product, yes, but also a cause at its heart bigger than simply being a place to eat – and getting people to buy into that. “I think the reason we’ve been so successful in crowdfunding is that it works really well for mission-driven businesses,” she reflects. “It’s all about resonating with investors. If they believe in your mission, they will support it.”
fter a barnstorming campaign in 2021, when over half a million people officially pledged to go animal-product-free for 31 days, the new year is expected to bring yet another record-breaking Veganuary. It’s just one marker of the rapid rise of veganism across the world – which, according to some estimates, has seen a staggering 40% increase in the UK alone. The success of local plant-based cafe Stem & Glory has grown in tandem with this gathering momentum of veganism. But the story started much earlier, explains owner Louise Palmer-Masterton. “I’d been rolling the idea of a vegan cafe around in my head for many years, through my own love of cooking plant-based food, and the total lack of places to get a decent vegan meal,” she explains. “There were various incarnations of the brand within my leisure business, so it evolved over quite a long time. But the first Stem & Glory proper opened in 2017.” Since then, helped along by incredible crowdfunding efforts, the Stem & Glory brand now incorporates a thriving cafe in Cambridge, a site at Barts Square, London,
In 2018, when Stem & Glory did its last big fundraising push, veganism was starting to trend – and the company was able to ride that wave. Things are different now, and the market is much more established, but Louise believes if you can sell people on your philosophy and get the strategy right, there’s no reason you can’t effectively utilise the tool to get a business off the ground, or grow it. “Crowdfunding is part art and part science. If you get the right ‘recipe’, it works,” she advises. “It’s mostly about having a pre-existing crowd. Anyone thinking of doing a raise, don’t rely on the platforms to provide the interest – you have to drum that up yourself.” PLANT POWER Stem & Glory owner Louise Palmer-Masterton is a passionate advocate of veganism. These recipes showcase the diet’s wealth of flavours
40 JANUARY 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
Powered by FlippingBook