'I'm extremely lucky and thankful for the amazing customers that keep my business going'
As we continue our producer focus, this week we caught up with Lauren Redmond, the founder of Vegan Bakery, Buttercream Dream. With the demand for vegan and plant based products growing, it's a category and range that we feel in Fresh we must carefully consider and include throughout our stores. Buttercream Dream Cupcakes are definitely a customer favourite and not just amongst vegans! Lauren is one of the hardest working producers we know and her passion and commitment always shines through in her products. Please enjoy learning more about Buttercream Dream below...
Hi. I'm Lauren, and I'm the owner of Buttercream Dream, Dublin's indulgent vegan bakery! We're a 100% vegan bakery and trade at a number of markets, offer decadent bakes for wholesale, brought Ireland's first vegan cupcakes to retail, accept custom orders and pop up at events throughout the year. You'll find us at @buttercreamdreamdublin on Instagram and Buttercream Dream on Facebook.
The worst thing is probably the really long working hours that comes with it. Saying that though, I'm extremely lucky and thankful for the amazing customers that keep my business going, and I'd have it no other way.
Research, research, research, and make sure you love what you're doing! I'd recommend anyone thinking about it completes some sort of start your own business course, reads books, watches videos on the subject, tests their products out on family and friends, and really commits to the idea. Starting your own business sounds like the dream, and it can be, but what comes with that is the need for a really strong work ethic and genuine love of what you're doing.
There was no one piece of advice in particular that stood out, but I did complete a Start Your Own Business course a couple of years ago, and the respect the mentors showed and the enthusiasm they had towards my idea really gave me the confidence I needed to continue. When you're 21 years-old and have no business experience, and not a lot of capital to get going, it's very easy to not be taken seriously. My mentor at the time, Nevin, encouraged me to think about bring my products to retail way before I had even thought about that.
All small vegan businesses in particular have my utmost respect! Vegan Sandwich Co. have been one of my favourites since they launched. The owner, Sam, is an absolute pleasure to work with and know, and I really respect how far he's taken the business in such a short time, and while sticking to his core values. We're lucky enough to be neighbours at one of our markets, Honest2Goodness, where we swap treats every Saturday. They also stock my bakes for home delivery and collection and we've collaborated a couple of times at big festivals.
I know I'm bias, but it genuinely is hard to pick! Cupcakes are a real winner, and it's so difficult to find a non-health based vegan cupcake in Dublin, so I love when I've a spare one in the bakery that I can munch on. Peanut butter brownies are a real favourite too, they're so rich and the slightly salted peanuts really compliment the Belgian chocolate. Currently cupcakes are available at Fresh, and we're working on launching new flavours, along with other items somewhere along the line.
Being listed with Fresh really does mean so much to me. I've been a customer for years, and loved that they stock really high quality products, and always put an emphasis on Irish-made and giving small producers a chance of being on the shelf. Adding my products available for home-delivery on the Fresh website has been fantastic for sales and exposure too, which is thanks to the team at Fresh for reaching out to me about it.
