🛒 The Check-Out: Tom Palmer, Yep Kitchen
+ 5 cool climate events + what's in our basket - gummies, incense, crackers...
Happy Thursday! Welcome to The Check-Out - your weekly dose of climate x consumer goods inspiration, and your discovery box of products and events the Following the Footprints team are loving this week. It’s great to have you here.
Picture the scene: It’s late in the evening, you’re in the basement of Wolf & Badger in Soho, and someone is handing out noods. No, not that kind. The drizzled-in-authentic-sichuan-chilli-oil kind. Thanks to London’s master curator, Nicole, we’ve recently discovered Yep Kitchen and it’s awesome founder Tom. Tom’s passion for building Yep Kitchen is almost as strong as their chilli oil (I’m part Scottish, spice isn’t my thing ok), and his energy is almost as cool as their branding. Today, he’s jumping into the FTF hot seat and answering our burning questions.
After we chat to Tom, we’ll share what the Following the Footprints team has loved and consumed this week and 5 Climate x Consumer Goods events coming up. Savour it - we’re taking our annual FTF summer break, so you won’t see us again for a whole two weeks… let’s dig in!
> Brand Spotlight
🎙️ Behind the Brand: 6 Questions With Tom Palmer, Founder of Yep Kitchen
👉 Hello! We’d love the non-LinkedIn lowdown on who you are, what Yep Kitchen is focused on, and what you were doing before you were making the planet cooler (both meanings intended)?
I’m Tom, an ex-teacher and spicy food addict. I moved to Beijing in 2013 with no real plan other than to explore and enjoy a year abroad. Little did I know, it would become my home for the next decade!
I totally fell in love with Chinese food & culture whilst living there, from learning Mandarin to countless cooking classes, trips to the mountainous south to the muslim west,, it’s fair to say I found something I resonated with.
As you might imagine, leaving China after all of this was very difficult and far more difficult than leaving the UK in the first place, so just walking away and closing that chapter of my life was not an option, that’s when Yep Kitchen was born.
I wanted to create a brand that showcased the parts of Chinese food & culture I had experienced in the most positive way I could. That’s why we’re focused on creating products that give people the most authentic experience we can offer. From our original artwork designed by Chinese artists, to our imported Chengdu spices, it’s about the total experience.
👉 As an early stage and independent brand, what do you prioritise when it comes to your brands’ impact?
From the start, quality has been the driving force behind decision making. That means making decisions that directly improve the experience of the people, product, and places we interact with.
For example, always choosing recyclable packaging over plastic, even though creating a box that can safely transport glass without plastic bubble wrap is tricky! More recently, our switch to a Cold-Pressed rapeseed oil from Norfolk farm has reduced our carbon footprint in both the mileage and production of our main ingredient.
There are many planet friendly alternatives on the market now, the difficult part is not finding them, it’s that in almost every case they come at a premium. Finding ways to offset those costs is essential, especially at the beginning when battling with economies of scale.
👉 Most brands are very resource constrained. Are there any handy workarounds / tricks you’ve found to reduce your impact on budget?
Tough question! I learned from my mistakes on this one, for sure. Over spending on things many times at the beginning. Always shopping around is essential, it’s wild how different prices for the same services can be.
However, spending money is the only way to make money and budgeting in the wrong areas can be costly. Spending on product design over doing it yourself may seem like a better option, but in such a competitive space, how are you going to stand out from the pack to drive sales?
Understanding where my skills are and spending in the areas that compliment my weaknesses is how I plan my budget.
👉 You lived in China for 10 years, and now you source some of your key ingredients from there. What learnings can you share from this journey? Many brands don’t have the same cultural context you do.
With our brand ethos about giving consumers the most authentic experience we can, importing ingredients from China was inevitable.
At the beginning, I thought that the emissions from transporting goods from China would be our biggest contributor to carbon emissions, however I have come to learn that in most cases, the largest contributor is actually through the manufacturing process, this is why we’ve also focused on how we can reduce emissions on our ingredients.
👉 Ok, magic wand time; if we could grant you three wishes for the food industry, what would they be?
Transparency.
Contracts.
Marmite everything.
Transparency: We all know that brands work really hard to keep certain things from their consumers, especially when related to carbon footprint. B Corp are doing great things on transparency for brands that want to showcase it, but for many others it’s not forced. I think it would be so interesting to see what the results would be if next to the 5 nutritional labels we have to include on food packaging, there was one for carbon footprint.
Contracts: When we sent our first order to a distributor, I asked about a contract and was met with a very confused email essentially saying, what are you talking about. Even now, I find it so odd that the food industry functions mostly without contracts, would love a magic wand on this one.
Marmite everything: After living in China for 10 years, marmite was the one thing that was never replaced, I would always take surplus jars back with me after trips home. Then, when I moved back to the UK and saw how much the range had grown, I was a happy boy, haha! Marmite crunchy peanut butter being the absolute one.
👉 Finally - We’d love some recommendations; one climate-related resource, one person to follow online and one consumer brand that’s killing it
Bright Vibes -They focus on positive news stories from around the world broken down into different categories, with one dedicated to sustainable planet news stories. Great read and always worth a visit.
Fuschia Dunlop is one to follow if you’re into Sichuan cuisine, her knowledge on the topic is literally insane and she is always posting thoughtful and interesting content on it.
One brand that I think is killing it, is Momo Kombucha. Josh and his partner have taken the brand from a home-style start up to a national powerhouse and it’s super inspiring to see. Plus, their kombucha is absolutely delightful!
A huge thanks to Tom for jumping into the hot seat today!
> In Our Basket
🔎 What we loved and consumed this week:
From Katherine in London: I found Sweet Lounge while studying my masters and now I’m absolutely hooked! They have an amazing selection of vegan gummies (my true weakness) which are so good, I have to make a detour to Selfridges to get a packet whenever I’m in central London. The female-founded UK company also packages their sweets in entirely compostable packaging.
From Leone in London: I am LOVING these Morihata Paper Incense Strips that Katherine gave me for my birthday. They’re not too overpowering, there are loads in the packet, I can choose which aroma I want and they’re super easy to use and put away - no incense holder required, it’s literally just a metal clip. I also feel like a self care guru each time I use one - a strip of paper is really all it takes!
From Jenny in New York: I was intrigued by the packaging and stayed for the regeneratively farmed promises of these Cheddies crackers. Per their website, the cheddar cheese used is certified organic and from farms that are verified regenerative. The kicker - they’re also so damn good.
> Monthly Events Roundup!
📆 5 Consumer Goods x Climate Events:
Browse 20+ upcoming consumer x climate events, and submit yours.
29th August - Assessing Climate Risks for Your Business
Organisers: SustainabilitE Solutions
Location: Virtual
5th September - Zero Waste Industry Party
Organisers: Volcano Coffee Works
Location: Clapham, London
10th September - How To Set Carbon Reduction Targets
Organisers: Seismic
Location: Virtual
11th September - Tech for sustainability: Uncover the truth on sustainability claims
Organisers: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), British Standards Institution (BSI)
Location: CISL, Cambridge, UK
23rd-26th September - NYC AgTech Week 2024
Organisers: NY Agriculture Collective
Location: Throughout New York
That’s it for today!
Know a brand we should spotlight next? Let Leone know!
Have links that can make the team learn or laugh? Share them with us, we might just share them in The Check-Out next week.
Hungry for more? You’ll see us on Monday! That’s when we suit up and get serious, digging into a topic that is guaranteed to make you look smart at standup.
Much love,
Team FTF