15:00, 13 January 2022
Words by Smiley Team, Staff Writer, London
After 35 years of trying - and failing - to find a decent vegan meal in a restaurant, Louise Palmer-Masterton decided to create her own.
It was the beginning of a burgeoning plant-based movement, which led to the establishment of Stem & Glory, a 100% vegan business that now has two restaurants in London and Cambridge, as well as an online store.
Speaking to Smiley News, Louise says: “When I was a teenager I had a friend who was a Krishna devotee. He introduced me to the idea of compassionate eating for the first time. I gave up eating meat on the spot, and never went back. It was a pivotal moment that changed the course of my life forever."
(Read more about the plant-based pioneers of the fast food world)
Stem & Glory is carbon negative. It reduces its emissions by only using renewable energy, and using recycled and repurposed items where possible. "Of course being plant-based also makes emissions far lower than a non plant-based restaurant," adds Louise. "Whatever CO2 emissions we're left with, we then offset working with a variety of offset projects."
During the pandemic, Stem & Glory was forced to close - but the period gave them the time to streamline their business, undergo a rebrand, and ultimately launch a much bigger site in Cambridge.
On 20 January, the restaurant is launching a crowdfunding campaign to help them create a new cruelty-free bar at London Broadgate - their biggest project to date.
"Our business has been entirely funded to date by our crowd - more than 1000 investors who have invested in our previous rounds," she says.
(Read more about this vegan wine brand which is removing plastic from our oceans)
Louise hopes society will move towards more sustainable methods when it comes to food. "I do believe in the end it will be unavoidable to take steps to be more sustainable, and that will include minimising high carbon foods (such as meat) as far as possible," she says.
“So whether it’s an overt movement towards being cruelty-free, or the more likely very strong business case, I do believe it will eventually become the norm. If customers are demanding it more and more, businesses will need to evolve and change to stay in the market.”
You can learn more about Stem & Glory, and be the first to contribute to their crowdfunding efforts on their website.
