Australian Vegan Business, 21 June 2008
Darah Morris (Nicholas) of Soulveg
Husband and wife Darah and Yahvinah Morris make up the wonderful Victorian catering business Soulveg. Renowned for cheesecakes that are available in a myriad of flavours and mini as well as regular sizes, they also have an array of other food on call, including wheat based protein strips, soy and wheat meet balls, cheezy spreads, plus cakes and pies galore.
These can be bought wholesale or for your next dinner, however they also cater for functions and events with a typically broad range of food from wraps and burritos to salads and breaded tofu. You can even give your catering a culinary theme such as African, Soul Food, Middle Eastern and… Aussie BBQ!
Alright, so they have African style food, but what do African Hebrews have to do with anything?
They were instrumental in helping Soulveg take off.
Actually they’re the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. Only they’re based in Dimona, Israel, not Jerusalem. Would you have guessed they run restaurants? Well they do, and not only that, they operate the Soul Vegetarian Restaurant chain, probably the largest vegan restaurant chain on the planet, with locations in various US cities and countries around the world.
By early 2005 Darah and Yahvinah were under Soul Vegetarian’s wing. They volunteered for around 6 months at Soul Vegetarian East in Chicago, but also trained in Los Angeles and Texas as well as Germany, Israel and Thailand.
By March 2006 they were in business, and later that year Darah was in the running for the $100,000 Nescafe Big Break award. The plan, if he won, was to open a restaurant. That didn’t happen, but he still came out with $15,000 for making it to the finals.
Two years later Soulveg continue with their impressive range of food and variety of culinary themes.
Yahvinah tells us more…
Did you have any experience in food service before starting Soulveg?
We volunteered in Soul Vegetarian East, one link in the largest vegan food chain in the world, for about 6 months in total. Darah had some experience in the industry working with a pizzeria and an aged care facility, and I had some other experience in Soul Vegetarian before I came to Australia.
A fair bit of planning seems to have gone into the business, at least in terms of food. How long did you spend preparing Soulveg before you started up?
We spent a year overseas training and planning to start a business in 2005, and upon returning to Australia in November 2006 we both persued a Certificate 4 in small business management and created an in depth business plan, and I persued my food safety supervisor training! So by February 2006 we were ready to go!
You only started the business in March 2006, yet later that year Darah was a finalist in the Nescafe Big Break. What are your thoughts on that experience?
I think it was a great way for us to spread the word about our business in the beginning stages, we received a lot of support, and the money that we got was VERY helpful in getting our own equipment!
Did you have any problems establishing yourself initially?
As with any business, it was very difficult to source suppliers, and not having worked in the catering industry – let alone in Australia – we had a pretty steep learning curve to find out how things were done! It’s actually funny but we originally planned Soulveg to be a vegan sandwich stand that would function outside, but it just evolved into a catering business!
The story of Soul Vegetarian, the people who taught your your skills, is an inspiring one. Are you connected with them in any way, apart from being taught by them?
We have many friends and family who are a part of the community in Israel, and we also share their beliefs. Since we have started our business they have been very supportive with advice and motivation. We owe so much to them for teaching us everything we know!
Did it cost you much to get going?
Well lets just say we put everything we had into it! Soulveg was not something that we took lightly, so we did anything, and everything that we could to provide the best services possible!
Over 7 days, how much time a day on average would you say you spend working on Soulveg?
I work probably 10 hours a day. Although our business is quite established, we are still in the infant stages, and I spend a lot of my time revising the menu, speaking to clients, planning events, chasing up suppliers and creating the infrastructure.
Do you have some food on hand ready to go?
We create all of our food on demand. It reduces the need to have too much stock, and it ensures ABSOLUTE freshness.
Where do you store it all?
We store all of our catering equipment, and items that we take on site in a large storage room. Because we do everything on demand we don’t really store raw ingredients, except gluten flour and TVP.
How have things been going since you began in 2006?
There are always ups and downs, mostly because catering is a highly seasonal business! We have on the whole been growing steadily, we have now done several weddings, and other large events, and we are branching out into food service and other exciting directions!
What are your next goals in the business?
I would like to revamp our entire menu since we have focused Soulveg to catering and food service entirely, and I am actually in the process of planning and registering two additional businesses. One is called Tarts to Go which will provide gourmet tarts through various channels in Victoria, primarily outdoor vending. The other is still in the pilot stages, but we will offer 5 days worth of freshly cooked lunches and dinners to busy people – we are actually just finished with the first week of that program! So if anyone is interested in that, please feel free to contact us for more information!
Your website says you’d like to become a Holistic Dietitian.
Actually my focus has shifted a bit, I have decided to get Soulveg to a certain level of establishment first, and then I will have the time to gain the experience that I need – a Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics, and a naturopathy qualification.
Your site also says Darah would like to help improve the health of indigenous people in Australia through diet. Is his aim to do this through a vegan diet?
Yes, we only promote the vegan diet, but we approach everyone with the same amount of acceptance and understanding because we know that everyone is at different stages of their development, and sometimes if you pressure people to do things you get the opposite effect. Not only the Kooris, but the non-indigenous Australians at large are very surprised about what the vegan diet has to offer, so all we can do is create delicious foods and keep providing the information that people need to make the informed decisions about their health.
Tags: vegan business information, yahvinah from soulveg
