Lenny's is going to open on busy Blackstock Rd, in the former Caribbean take away and restaurant known as Granny's! It's cute and won't take too much work to make it ship shape and ready to go, but it does need some equipment, crockery, cutlery, coffee machine,
insurance and many many other tiny things. The costs mount up incredibly fast!
The social benefit of Lenny's is at least twofold. As a vegan eatery, we'll be providing a healthy and cruelty free option for folks around Finsbury Park. At the moment, the area is very heavy on fast food outlets. I don't want to harp on about veganism
too much, because there is plenty of information out there, but my feelings are that the food production system at large is out of whack, but the absolute worst of it is the farming and slaughter of animals. It's not too hard to avoid supporting that industry
if you're committed to doing so, but the more options there are available, the easier it becomes for anyone to choose a vegan option.
As a workers co-operative, Lenny's will be beneficial to it's workers, in terms of it being a more autonomous workplace with much greater freedoms, and will be providing a working example of co-operativism, which I feel is especially important to showcase
on a small scale, so that it can be understood as a model which is accessible and possible to re-create. I'd love to think it could be inspirational to someone.
I plan to serve a range of meals, which will change depending on the ingredients available and depending on the whims of the chef. I find this is an excellent way to work as it keeps the food interesting and fresh, the passion shows through. I want to keep
the price of these main meals below £6. I'll also serve sandwiches and toasted sandwiches for around the £2.50 mark. Vegan cheese baby. Vegan cheese. I am courting Monmouth coffee right now as a supplier.
Besides the hot food, I'll sell a range of dips/mayonaisse/vegan margarine/pesto/pickles/chutneys with totally simple wholesome ingredients and no palm oil or nasty stuff. My cakes are super popular and I really want to develop recipes for chocolate bars,
vegan versions of mainstream bars, cos gawd knows I miss a Snickers. I plan to sell zines too as there are hardly any shops in London where they're available, and I already have a distro, so why not?
Also. Ice cream. :)
