Vegan raw food maker Banana Rawpublic has launched a crowdfunding campaign to drive its next venture – a food van to take its wares past restaurants and cafes and onto the streets.
Banana Rawpublic founders Todd Budden and Courtney Stewart.
Vegan raw food maker Banana Rawpublic has launched a crowdfunding campaign to drive its next venture – a food van to take its wares past restaurants and cafes and onto the streets.
The campaign was launched on crowdfunding website Indiegogo midway through last month, with a goal of raising $35,000 to pay for a suitable van and fit it out with a mobile kitchen.
Banana Rawpublic started as a raw food and vegan blog, which quickly built a following that led it to start supplying several cafes around the metropolitan area, including The Market Juicery in Leederville and Broadway Fresh in Mount Hawthorn.
If the $35,000 goal is achieved, Banana Rawpublic plans to set up the food van at locations both north and south of the river, at popular beaches, while also targeting music festivals and other events.
“We are hoping to get it done before summer to also get involved with the City of Perth’s food van trials,” founder Courtney Stewart said.
Todd Budden, who started the company with his partner Ms Stewart, who is a qualified nutritionist, said raw and vegan foods were beginning to build momentum in Perth’s foodie scene.
“People are starting to switch on more and are wanting to at least indulge now and then in healthier options, so we’re starting to make some good headway,” Mr Budden said.
He said the food van would give Banana Rawpublic the ability to reach more people and spread the raw food message.
“We like the idea of one day having a café or a permanent spot, but at the same time we want to be able to go down south when they have the food and wine festival and maybe even head over east,” Mr Budden said.
“It’s about having that flexibility, but the main thing with the venture is to help educate and teach more people about the quality of life they can have with whole foods and plant nutrition, and not just want to sell food, but see people one on one and interact in that way.”
If Banana Rawpublic is unable to meet its $35,000 goal the food van idea will not be shelved, instead Mr Budden said it may just take a little more time to get established.
“We do have investors that have approached us and we’ve talked about them possibly silent investing to get the business up and running,” Mr Budden said.
“So we know based on what we’ve discussed that we’ll be able to get the van itself and get the ball rolling, we just might find we don’t get out on the streets quite as quick as we’d like.”
Banana Rawpublic’s crowdfunding campaign follows the success of a similar initiative launched in September by the team behind popular North Perth small bar The Classroom, thought to be the first hospitality venture in Australia to seek funding from the public.
The team, which also founded catering company Cocktail Gastronomy, is planning to open a venue in Northbridge early next year called Lucky Chan’s Laundry and Noodle Bar.
Midway through last month, Lucky Chan’s surpassed its goal of raising $100,000, with $112,585 pledged by 672 supporters of the concept through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.
