Behind the Scenes with BReD
Natasha and Ed Tatton swapped the UK for British Columbia, opening a vegan organic sourdough bakery in a Canadian mountain resort village.
Lisa talks to Natasha of BReD about their adventure of opening a plant-based bakery in the Whistler mountains, winning over the locals and what it’s like running a business with your partner!
Why did you choose a small resort village in the Canadian mountains to launch a vegan business?
This is our home now and we love the mountains, so we knew the area really well and felt confident that there was enough of a vegan scene here to open a plant-based bakery. Whistler is a home away from home for Vancouverites who come up to ski at the weekends and they have a thriving vegan scene with an ever-increasing amount of vegan eateries, and they want to be catered for when they come up here.
Whistler Blackcomb is also the biggest ski resort in North America, so attracts millions of visitors a year, and given the global trends in developing countries, we knew that plant-forward people would seek us out using Google or Happy Cow. We’re the only bakery in town you can ski to because we are so close to the Creekside gondola, plus it is the first stop from Vancouver to park and ski from, with free parking, lots of other amenities and transport links, making the location perfect for a bakery – bakeries need a lot of footfall.
Our goal is to normalise plant-based lifestyles and so we need vegan eateries in every town, no matter how big or small. We believe a vegan world is the future, and not a trend that is limited to big and trendy cities.
I’m guessing there’s not a huge community of vegans in Whistler. How have you managed to engage with the locals when you’re running a vegan bakery?
You might be surprised! I know people assume skiing is based around fondue and hot chocolate, but actually Whistler is a winter Olympics host resort so many of the locals are extremely athletic and care about their health because they want to keep climbing and riding the mountains for as long as they can.
There are actually a number of world-class local athletes who are following and promoting a plant-based diet, such as the Olympic skier Julia Murray (she has a blog @hookedonplants and is co-founder of the Whistler Vegan Fest Podcast) and Yohann Bareli, the enduro biker.
There is also a very active Whistler Vegans Facebook group with almost 1800 members who used to meet up for potlucks and dine-out meet ups, as well as screenings of documentaries like Gamechangers. Julia Murray actually put on a vegan night with a giveaway competition on the night that movie premiered. It sold out and the local cinema didn’t even advertise it!
The great thing about sourdough is that it tends to be vegan by default so we attract all bread lovers to our store and when they see the other vegan treats, they can’t resist! It’s just a gentle nudge in the right direction, opening their eyes to what is possible with plants.
Have you had any pushback from customers not willing to try your products just because they don’t have egg and dairy in them?
Not for any of our baked goods. If anything, it reassures people with allergies and dietary requirements that we are a free-from kitchen in that regard.
However, in the beginning, we did have a few customers who demanded dairy in their coffee! We found that giving them a complimentary beverage, and letting them try it was a great way to win them over. A few of them didn’t hang around long enough and stormed out faster than you can say “espresso macchiato” but we haven’t had any pushback for a long time. It seems like consumers are more open to plant-based alternatives now than they were even a year ago, which means that we are getting closer to our dream of a vegan world.
"In the beginning, we did have a few customers who demanded dairy in their coffee! We found that giving them a complimentary beverage, and letting them try it was a great way to win them over."
I know that the local population hugely increases for the skiing season. How do you capitalise on this and what are the downsides of running a seasonal business?
We make twice as much during the winter, and have to hire more staff. The main downside is that the workers in Whistler are seasonal, usually on a visa which has an expiration; so just about every business here struggles to attract, train and retain staff. They say the average staff turnover time is about 3 months. Having an attractive benefits programme is one way we have retained our core team members since day one, as well as a strong mission, vision and values that our employees share.
Has running BReD always gone to plan or have you found yourselves having to overcome problems or change direction unexpectedly?
Covid-19 really couldn’t have thrown a bigger spanner in the works! We were seeing record sales, month on month, planning a big first birthday party, hiring more team members – we were rolling, and then it crashed to a halt overnight. We had to launch an online shop within 24 hours, which meant upgrading the website platform and integrating scheduling. We temporarily laid off the staff and ran it with just the two of us. It was hard work, but we built a great rapport with our local customers during that time, collected amazing reviews, and picked up extra customers by getting featured in international and local news for pivoting so rapidly.
BReD is a very visual identity. How important has investing in good photography and branding been to building the BReD brand?
People eat with their eyes so it’s imperative that the products look enticing whenever they are photographed. There are so many restaurants and cafes that get this so wrong!
We have worked with the same graphic designer since we started selling bread back in 2016, and he totally gets our brand. We also found great photographers and filmmakers locally really easily – there are a lot of them as we are an extreme sports destination, and they love our products so we are able to partially trade in BReD credit. It also gives them work during the shoulder seasons when the mountain is closed or the weather isn’t great for outdoor pursuits.
Using professionals to create photos and logos makes you credible enough to get featured in a magazine, or re-shared on a blog. They tend to use your photos and we have a bunch of them all organised in a media kit on our website, which makes life easy for journalists. We don’t think twice about investing in the latest iPhone with a better camera, or an accessory like a gimble, to aid our visual quality.
Do you still retain any links with the UK and have you had any ideas to engage with a wider following beyond your physical store?
We have a lot of followers from around the world who we engage with on our social media platforms. We try to answer every question through comments or live Q&A sessions. There are a lot of requests for a book so it’s got us thinking about that! As we close our store during the slow seasons, we try to take an annual vacation back to the UK and love to visit other bakeries who are making good bread or places creating top-notch vegan food. We also attend UK online events and follow media groups. We bought tickets for Ed’s sister for the Vevolution festival last year and we always order gifts from UK based vegan companies for our friends and family. We always try to support local whenever we can.
You both have backgrounds in hospitality, which will have prepared you for opening the bakery. What other skills have you had to learn to run a successful business?
Marketing is an area we have had to really delve deep into. It started with getting a website together and filling it up with useful content and then building in a media kit; learning how to communicate with journalists, getting on all the social media platforms; networking; taking courses; listening and appearing on podcasts as well as reading old fashioned books. You can’t market your business enough. There’s also a load of jargon to get your head round: “purchase funnels”, “CRM systems” – and you’re always learning more.
Would you recommend running a business with your partner or spouse? Has it contributed to your success?
If you and your loved one have a common area of interest in which you can bring your expertise together, it’s an exciting adventure to be on together. You completely appreciate your partner’s workload and can problem solve together. You trust each other 100%. It’s imperative that you set boundaries though – have your own roles that are clearly defined. Ed has his areas and I have mine, so we don’t step on each other’s toes.
What exciting plans do you have for the future of BReD?
Christmas is coming, so lots of festive treats to feature on the menu – mince pies and panettone cinnamon buns, and more! We’re also adding a doggie treat to our menu which is for the animals in every way – all profits will go to local animal causes. We are stoked to be able to make a difference in some small way.
Long term, we want to add vennoise pastry to our selection. The vegan sourdough croissant is the holy grail of baking, is it not? We want to head on that pilgrimage and make a croissant which is at least as good as, if not better than a traditional one. It takes investment in more equipment, and more skilled bakers to expand our offerings. This has been delayed a little by Covid-19 but we’re itching to get going with it!
What would your advice be for anyone thinking of launching their own vegan business?
Don’t be scared. Own your niche. Check out Lisa and David’s VBT business course – the section about how to angle your vegan message is very important. Should you use ‘vegan’, ‘free-from’, ‘Plant-based’ or ‘cruelty-free’? How will you find your tribe and not alienate potential customers? These are things we have had to take a really good look at. Don’t be afraid to make money either: you need to have cash to grow and weather the storms. If you show people that vegan business can be profitable, you will inspire others to follow suit.
Learn more about BReD at their website: www.edsbred.com and on Instagram: @eds_bred
Lisa Fox says:
Natasha and Ed have a clear vision for BReD and they’ve built a strong brand identity with amazing products to back that up.
Your business should be part of your life adventure; it’s what will get you out of the bed in the morning instead of just facing another day in the office. And if you can create and run a successful vegan business during a pandemic, then you’re almost guaranteed future success!
