Herb-a-licious, a female-owned plant-based catering company took gold at this year’s Ladiesfirst Business Awards, winning the title of New Business of the Year.
The awards, which honour the achievements of women within Warwickshire and the West Midlands, dubbed Herb-a-licious the new business to watch. The Birmingham-based brand, founded by Rachel Leigh-Janney, specialises in catering for yoga and well-being retreats, and offers vegan pop-up nights and plant-based cookery courses and workshops.
Via the brand’s Instagram page, Leigh-Janney announced, “Here is it! Our first official Award!” She thanked those who sent wishes of good luck and congratulations, before reminiscing about the progress of Herb-a-licious. “Herb-a-licious was created from pure love and passion, and we’ve simply followed our intuition and what feels right, along with lots of hard work and the passion continues!” she wrote.
And, while the award celebrates the drive and business acumen of Leigh-Janney herself, the entrepreneur shared credit with her team. She wrote, “We have [the] most amazing supportive people around us and without you all sharing our message and food we wouldn’t be doing this!” She therefore dedicated the award to “everyone who has bought a ready meal from us, been to a pop-up night, a retreat, a workshop, cookery class, watched us live on FB or just shared a post for us!”
On the company’s website, Leigh-Janney explains how her successful vegan catering company came to exist. Formerly “living on processed foods” and unable to pronounce “quinoa,” a juice cleanse and meeting a health-conscious partner encouraged her to change her lifestyle. Her plant-based journey was propelled when she became pregnant – and bought a Deliciously Ella cookbook. “I was so focused that I would only eat clean food… for the first 6 weeks of Breastfeeding and I loved the food so much that I never really stopped!” she says.
The lady-boss notes that setting up a business can be challenging, but notes the importance of self-belief. “I had a million reasons why to say NO (I’m not good enough, I don’t don’t enough, people won’t like the food and so on) but something inside said YES and that was the beginning of Herb-a-licious.”
Now, creating healthy foods like soups, bean and oat patties, raw energy balls, and curries, she uses her company to “share with the world the amazing flavours and textures available from a clean plant-based diet.”
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