As one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world, there is always a coffee shop, restaurant or café offering new options for people on a plant-based diet in Bristol.
That could be the reason one Welsh baker is planning to bring her successful vegan breakfast pop-ups and bakery from all way from South Wales to Bristol.
Gabriella Spindler Vasquez Walters, owner of Toast Bakery, is currently situated in Cwmfelinfach in south-east Wales, alongside her husband with whom she established the eatery.
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She spoke to Bristol Live about Toast’s origins in Wales and how the decision to launch a few more pop-ups in Bristol came to be.
Gabriella said: “I've lived in Wales for two and a half years now with my husband from Essex. I made my start working in a vegan bakery just outside of Essex, in Sudbury, at a place called Cradle.
“It was there where I was taught how to do sourdough breads by one of my friends who owns the vegan bakery.
“When we came to Wales, it was such a beautiful place we felt, as we have a gypsy wagon in our garden where the bakery is.
“Now we’re doing more pop-ups wherever - South Wales, Essex and now Bristol.”
As Toast grew into a local success in her village, due to its raved-about sourdough breads, pastries and breakfast food, Gabriella and her partner felt it was timely to expand into bigger plans to promote their vegan bakery and pop-ups.
For the couple, Bristol was a convenient area that they feel embraces veganism while also supporting vegan-friendly businesses.
Gabriella said: “I think there’s quite a big vegan community in Bristol which appeals to us both, especially as we were watching a programme about Bristol - that got us thinking about it for a while.
“I also joined a Bristol Vegans online group and there were discussions about pastries and where to get baked goods. That was when we just wanted to pack up and take everything.”
Gabriella and her husband are currently on a hunt to begin opening up a limited number of breakfast pop-ups in Bristol, and they hope the public can assist them in offering a few locations to select.
Gabriella said: “We’ve heard from quite a few suggestions from the post that we put out on the Bristol Vegans group on Facebook.
“A couple of people have messaged individually about places that they would recommend us going to, so I think we’ll be at a point where we’re messaging the people with the cafes and markets, and we’ll go from there.”
Despite the couple making no plans to fully relocate, they only aim to diversify their reach across more cities to ultimately enhance the Toast brand one scrumptious Focaccia at a time.
Gabriella added: “There’s a potential to open up a lot of places in Bristol, such as markets, wholesale bits for cafes - there seems to be a lot around for vegans and a lot of vegan food to offer.
“Our backgrounds are in pop-ups and it’s a very different field, as well as being a very cool way to meet people instead of your traditional café or bakery, so we hope it can even be a cooler thing to bring in Bristol and pop-up every now and then.
“We’re looking forward to meeting people in the community and just building another base of connections while we can visit the places that we can set up our bakery in.”
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