The Brief
Cheeky Food made its first contact with Vegetarian Express in Feb 2021. With their vision of being the leading distributors of plant based ingredients, it really was a no brainer that they would be the ideal partners for our savoury sprinkle.
The country was coming in and out of lockdowns and, with the business landscape changing unpredictably – suppliers going into administration, consolidating lines and/or reducing foodservice supply was becoming necessary.
Vegetarian Express wanted to work with suppliers who believed in providing exciting plant based ingredients for their growing customer base and would help them replace and launch more lines in their own Vegetarian Express branding.
The Action
We agreed to start working with Vegetarian Express with just one line – our Gluten Free & Palm Oil Free Crispy Fried Onion.
We also agreed to explore further opportunities together including that Cheeky Food became one of their partners to develop and supply Vegetarian Express branded lines (where it aligned with the interest of both businesses).
The Results
Our Gluten Free Crispy Fried Onions have been a best seller on the Vegetarian Express platform for over two years now! In these two years we have also developed, manufactured and supplied three further lines of sprinkles (that do not directly compete with our own branded items) in the Vegetarian Express brand.
We have developed a partnership where both businesses feel invested in helping the other grow. As such going forward we are looking to launch more lines not just within the sprinkle category but also (hopefully) expand to other categories where we can leverage on our relations with overseas manufacturers and help both businesses grow mutually.
