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Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Help us build a plant-based (r)Evolution in the Highlands! We need your help to grow!

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Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Left Coast Culture: The next chapter

Help us build a plant-based (r)Evolution in the Highlands! We need your help to grow!

Help us build a plant-based (r)Evolution in the Highlands! We need your help to grow!

Help us build a plant-based (r)Evolution in the Highlands! We need your help to grow!

Help us build a plant-based (r)Evolution in the Highlands! We need your help to grow!

Ella Clarke
Ella Clarke
Ella Clarke
Ella Clarke
1 Campaign |
Beauly, United Kingdom
$8,015 USD $8,015 USD 91 backers
32% of $24,381 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
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Empty Box Robot
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Surprise Cheese Subscription

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Just for the love

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Left Coast Culture ally

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Just for the big love

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The Retailer Ally Pack

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Hi there! For those of you that don't know me, I'm Ella, the maker and creator or "Cheese Executive Officer", if you will, behind Left Coast Culture.

I'm a Canadian import who is proud to now call the magical Highlands of Scotland my home!

Ok, back to Left Coast Culture! Well, would you believe me if I told you this was all a complete accident? Because it was! Let me explain...

A most fortunate accident

My partner and I came to the Highlands in 2018, with a very different vision and idea of what we'd be doing here. I'm a nutritional therapist, raw foods coach, and detoxification practitioner by trade, so my plan was to build a community here around health and wellness and to help people heal from chronic illness. This is my passion and still something I do on the side, but it seems Highland life had other plans in store for me! 

In the fall of 2018, I started doing the local farmer's markets as a way of introducing myself to the local community. I made clean, healthy plant-based food to try to show others just how delicious this way of eating could be, whilst being kind to our natural world and our bodies too. 

We were called Left Coast Kitchen back then, and every Saturday we attended the local farmer's markets and met the loveliest people. 

Quite randomly one day, I decided to bring along some vegan cheese that I was making at home and by the next weekend, I had countless messages asking for more cheese, and arrived at the next market to find a queue of people already lined up to buy some!  

The community had spoken. 

In January 2019, Left Coast Kitchen became Left Coast Culture and, though some customers still ask for our roasted beetroot hummus, I decided to focus 100% on plant-based cheese,

 

Growing quickly and learning the hard way

That queue for our second appearance with cheese told us that people really wanted and needed something different. The alternatives offered by the supermarkets were awful, stuck to the roof of your mouth, didn’t melt properly, were wrapped in single-use plastic and tasted like...well, never mind. 

By providing something affordable and high quality, we grew quickly and were starting to get noticed. We were two-time runners up for an Innovation in Business award by the Scottish Rural Awards and the Highland & Islands Food and Drink Awards.

Left Coast has been featured in both local and national media, our "To Brie or Not to Brie" was nominated last year as runner-up for the best vegan brie (out of over 1200 vegan cheeses), and BBC Radio Scotland did a feature on us! We also have had the privilege to partake in local discussions around the future of food in the Highlands! (See podcast clip below)

This absolutely makes my head spin.

 

 

 

 

Highland Good Food Conversation Podcast  (Around the 8:30 minute mark)

But as Left Coast was such an unexpected (albeit happy) accident, I can tell you now that I was not ready for this. There have been some ups, some downs, and in all honestly, some (maybe more than some) crying on the floor moments when I just wasn't sure if could pull this off. 

Up until only a few months ago, Left Coast Culture has largely been a one-woman show. Making, cutting, wrapping, labelling and delivering the cheeses, answering emails, dealing with social media and learning everything from accounting to production workflows. 

We have had so much community support, and my partner, Mark has helped out with the strategy, markets and other things where he could on top of his own full-time business.

But in the end, it has largely been just me and the cheeses carving our way here together. I have hit the wall more times than I care to remember, and without the love and support of those around me, Left Coast would most certainly have disappeared. 

 

Love conquers all

Throughout my travels, I have heard that Canadians are the nicest people out there but, sorry to my fellow Canucks, the Highlands takes the cake on that one. The community around Left Coast Culture is something unlike I have ever seen. I can honestly say that the kindness, the support, the encouragement, the testimonials and reviews and messages I receive on the regular has been overwhelming but so very much appreciated! 

Yes, I do this for the planet, for the betterment of our own health, for the environment, and for the cows, of course, but I also do it for you, my community. Left Coast came from you, grew because of you, and is still here because of you. Check out the video below to see what I mean. (If you're anything like me, grab a tissue.)

 

And here we are

Fast forward to today and Left Coast Culture is stocked in more than 20 shops and restaurants around the UK, as well as on the largest, online vegan supermarket in the UK, The Vegan Kind.

Our customers are not just vegans, but those that have been diagnosed with dairy allergies and intolerances, or who want to be more mindful of their ecological footprint and have chosen to give up dairy or reduce their consumption. From vegans to flexitarians, health or environment-conscious folks down to just plain foodies, we cater to everyone. 

The stumbling block

The last two years have been a blur. From working at home at the very start, to renting a small kitchen in Avoch, to moving to a temporary space in Inverness and now being in a bigger (but also temporary) kitchen at Belladrum, there have been challenges at every stage in our growth. 

We somehow figured out what kinds of commercial machinery could produce larger batches of our product, and we managed to get it via loans and grants, but Covid-19 and Brexit seamlessly teamed up to produce an 8-month delay in the construction of our new kitchen. And without access to the 3-phase power we need & would have there, we have been unable to increase production and grow, and all the while the loans needed to be repaid. 

With our cash flow dried up and a limit to how much we could produce manually, we have managed to make it into a temporary kitchen where we could use our machines and refrigeration. Battered and bruised, but still hanging in there. 

 

Pushing forward again

From professionalising our packaging to (naturally) extending shelf life, growing our range and our team, to being able to just keep up with demand and build an online presence with a much-requested online shop so we can ship nationally, there are still so many challenges to overcome.  

And that is why we are starting this crowdfunder. We know the opportunity that is out there for Left Coast Culture to reach its potential but at this point, it cannot happen without your help. We have used up every resource and trick in the book to get here and, though we sit here with a waiting list of pending new customers and so many opportunities in front of us, we just can’t meet that demand or get there alone.

There is a new chapter just ahead in the Left Coast story and I would really love for you to be a part of it. 

 

The Crowdfunding campaign- in a nutshell

We have a lot of opportunities in front of us, but we are just not yet able to take advantage of them. The next step up is a big one.  If Left Coast Culture is to have a home in the Highlands to really grow, we need you. 

With your support, we aim to raise a minimum of £20,000. Here is how that breaks down in a nutshell:

The Crowdfunding campaign- in more detail

  • To take on and train new team members we need to allow a certain period of time for them to learn the somewhat complex art of making this product before they are able to produce it to a consistent standard. 

    That means around 6 weeks before each new team member can really help raise our production output. Add to this the average 5 weeks it takes for a retail client to pay the invoice, and that means a gap of over two months in operating cash flow. Your support will help us fund the training period so that we can raise production sustainably. 

  • To scale up our production to meet growing demand means an initial outlay for bulk quantities of key ingredients. We will also need to make our own plant-based milk in-house to ensure a steady supply chain, and that means investing in new equipment too. Your support will help us to get out in front of these challenges and get ready to grow. 
     
  • To move to even more sustainable packaging, and extend our shelf life are actually connected. Our packaging needs to be not just recyclable and low carbon as it is now, but compostable where possible. We also need to ensure a more airtight seal for a longer shelf life to allow more time for retailers to stock each production run. Your support means we can trial a new sealer and compostable packaging options, and ensure we get it right the first time. 
     
  • To trial and introduce a new range of cheeses is trickier than when we were just doing community markets! The main challenge is time, so by growing our team, there will be more time for Ella to tinker and experiment! However, the ingredients are also a cost, as trials can sometimes range through many iterations, not to mention the microbiological testing that needs to be done at the end. Your support means being able to perfect and launch some of the amazing new cheeses we have in progress right now.
     
  • To launch our online shop will give customers access to a greater range of new cheeses, limited editions and special collaborations. Customers have been asking for this for a long time now! With your support, we can ensure the site is connected to stock levels, courier systems and is easy to navigate and use. Customers in areas without retailers will finally be able to get a regular supply of Left Coast cheeses! 
     
  • To professionalise our processes means getting professional support from a food scientist, production technician and a back-end developer to tie up all of our processes and systems so nothing gets missed, efforts are not duplicated and no time is wasted. We want our customer service to be second to none, and that means efficient automated processes. 

 

£20,000 will help us to take the next steps and we are confident we can do it. The target, however, is a minimum. If the funding  reaches over the minimum target, here is where it will go:

The horse trailer 

Yep! Meet the horse trailer of our dreams. If we raise more than the £20k minimum target, this is where it will go. Festivals and events in Scotland are almost always undeserving their plant-based and dairy-free customers, and we would love to help fix that. With gourmet cheesy delights and beautiful coffee flowing from this lovely lady,  We could bring Left Coast Love to all of the wee nooks and crannies of the Highlands and beyond. 

This is something we planned for spring 2023, but with your support, it could be a lot sooner. 

 

The community space 

The community space is a big project already in progress. We already have an area on the Belladrum Estate which will be a workshop space dedicated to helping new food producers in the Highlands have somewhere to get started and to grow. 

That space needs to be outfitted with sinks, work surfaces and basic kitchen equipment. But more than this, we plan to have a place to host events, workshops, gatherings, and of course- a wee spot to come and pick up your cheese whenever you need that quick fix! We miss meeting at community markets, so it would be amazing to have a proper space to see you in person again!

Your support means we can actually make this the best version of all the many possibilities in front of us.  

 

We do not ask for help lightly. Know that we have done everything we can on our own to get this far and that we just can’t step up further without support. 

The funds from this campaign will help us stabilise and grow, provide employment and sustainability, and of course, will ensure that we at Left Coast Culture plant our flag in the Highlands long term. 

Because that is part of our bolder, broader vision; a plant-based (r)EVOLUTION in the Highlands, with conscious, low-impact food choices and a community of independent manufacturers growing strong in a tight community; so that the Highlands attracts more progressive investment, and provides future-proof employment opportunities by serving a growing community of plant-based and dairy-free consumers. 

We really are at the start of it all, but with so much just ahead of us, and with your help, we can get there, together.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart, 

Ella

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