[PODCAST] In Future Alternative’s first podcast episode, we speak with Sam and Stuart Cook, owners of plant-based diner, Flave.
The pair launched the Bondi-based eatery in December 2021, and have set themselves the ambitious target of opening 1000 Flave locations around the world over the next 10 years.
To help them achieve this, they recruited executive chef, Scott Findlay, who boasts an impressive resume as private chef for vegan and flexitarian celebrities including Sir Paul McCartney, Rihanna, Elton John and Beyonce.
Rather than targeting the vegan market, Flave is casting a far wider net, showing meat-eaters that a plant-based burger can be just as tasty as its animal protein counterpart.
“We don’t want to take market share from other plant-based restaurants; we want to expand the pie and get people to see what is able to be achieved on the culinary side of things. [We want people to] realise that plant-based proteins and plant-based living is not about sacrificing on flavour. You’re not sacrificing on quality, texture, satiation. You’re just having amazing food.”
The pair go on to discuss the impact the pandemic has had on their new business, obviously struggling through lockdown periods, but also grasping on to the opportunity to implement “world class” systems and diversify Flave’s revenue stream.
“We’ve actually done a leapfrog in terms of where we thought we were going to be with the roll-out of technology. We don’t have a lot of legacy systems,” Stuart said. “We are very fortunate that we’re coming in at this time, where the technology has been rapidly growing during the Covid time, so we can roll-out a lot faster than other chains.”
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