A MOSSLEY business may be thriving in a new permanent base – but the meaning behind The Veg Lord is still the same.
Giving people affordable fresh food they can create meals with and helping out local good causes.
Matthew Gilmartin has been in his unit at Warmco Industrial Estate for two months after originally setting up as a pop-up five months previously.
And things have progressed so much since he took the plunge into business, he is loving every minute.
Providing just as much satisfaction, though, is helping out Mossley Foodbank and Ashton’s Infinity Café with donations and customers by popping recipe cards relating to the ingredients that come in £20 boxes of produce.
Matthew said: “I went to the charities as my philosophy when I started was, ‘I cannot start a food business without supporting either a food bank or a charity that does something with food.’ That would’ve been irresponsible.
“Charities are part of what I do as a person but for us to incorporate that into the business happened from say one. Not doing it wasn’t an option.
“We donate fresh produce every week at the food bank and we’re a collection point for other people’s donations of pantry goods.
“I pop into Infinity Café and we’re thinking of doing a Christmas dinner there. Just to give back to people who are having a lonely time or a hard time.”
Another of Matthew’s values in business is value, which given the way the country is at the moment is more pertinent than ever.
“We try to keep our prices as competitive as we can,” he added. “For me, everything’s about affordability.
“We’ve good fresh produce that we bring in on a daily basis and people get about a fortnight’s worth of produce in a family box, which costs £20.”
Recipe cards in the boxes – which range from £10 to £25 – are nothing new to The Veg Lord, it is something he has done since opening and help customers create dishes with what they buy.
But it is something different. It is believed no other business within a large area does it and they are available on the business’ Instagram page at @theveglord.
“I like to cook things from scratch,” Matthew explained. “And I quite like to give people the inspiration to do the same. Sometimes you can amend them so you can make things your way but if you get a veg box that just turns up and you don’t know what to do with what’s in it, it can be a bit pointless.
“The recipe changes every week as the ingredients change but they always relate.”
Things could hardly be going better for Matthew at his unit, which he secured a five-star food hygiene rating for, but the reaction of the public has provided one of the biggest thrills.
He told The Correspondent: “I set The Veg Lord up purely as I wanted to start my own business and I love food, so I combined the two and the reception from people has been incredible.
“I’ve met so many new people in the last seven months, I feel like I’ve a whole new bunch of friends, which is so good.
“Before I moved into the unit, we just offered a delivery service, which relied heavily on an online presence.
“With this, we’ve got a space we can invite people into. We can say, ‘Come and see us, this is what we’ve got. Come and pick your own stuff, just come and see us. We’ll stick the kettle on!”
Matthew may have moved the business into a permanent unit but deliveries are still done within a five-mile radius, although that may grow in the new year.
And as he says, you can contact him through ‘social media, phone, carrier pigeon, whatever works for you!’
“We’ve all sorts of things on the web site but you can pop in and see us as well, whichever is easiest,” he added.
*THE VEG Lord is at Unit W1F, Warmco Industrial Estate at Woodend Mill in Mossley. It is open from 10am until 4pm Tuesday to Friday, from 10am until 3pm on a Saturday and from 10am until 2pm on a Sunday. You can find him online at www.theveglord.co.uk
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