Life has been busy.
Here we are on the 11th of May, talking about everything that happened in April.
Last month, we tested Gemma’s MasterChef gnocchi at Stockbridge Market, and they were a hit!
I don’t know if the weather helped, but we had our best market so far.
But there is always a “but” (you know I always explain the real behind-the-scenes).
I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep them for long.
Making everything from scratch takes time; now imagine making little gnocchi almost one by one.
It took two days of prep, and money-wise, the markets should ideally take just one day of prep to properly cover expenses.
In the end, the hours we have to sell are very limited. So, I hope you got to try them.
Gemma gave another talk this time at Napier University to hospitality management students.
We didn’t want to sugarcoat our journey because, if you’ve been here for a while, you know all the sh#t we’ve gone through.
However, those failures have led us to where we are now, so we based the talk around the main failures.
I think those are the things that really make you learn.
And talking about learning, during April I tried a few tart attempts Gemma made, and 12 of you got to try a piece at Leith Market.
If you did, happy to hear the feedback 😉
I also ran a guerrilla marketing campaign around Leith to promote our market, focused on showing people how, by 2050, many things we take for granted might become unaffordable, like coffee, cocoa, and more. You can watch the video here.
Lastly, we needed pictures of our wide variety of canapés, so we set aside a day for a photoshoot, and afterwards shared the food with friends because sharing is caring and we don’t want food waste.
April has been busy.
It’s the month when we prepare for the season, and now that things have started properly, that’s why it took me so long to write this newsletter.
⚠️ Btw, remember you can keep recommending us to be featured in the Good Food Guide. If enough people recommend us, they could send a food critic, and maybe we’d become the first market stall to be featured.
Yes, almost an impossible possibility, but we like a challenge.
Monthly balance ⚖️
✅ The Stockbridge Market was the best so far.
✅ I got to eat a lot of tart
✅ I can be as creative as I want with the marketing
✅ We had a nice weekend off (the last one until September)
❌ We had to cancel a cooking workshop partnered with Cyrenians, as not many people bought the tickets
❌ I can be creative with the marketing, but it doesn’t always perform well. (I need to find a sweet spot)
Gossip ish 💬
We were a bit nervous at Stockbridge Market, not because it was the first time doing the gnocchi and the scarpetta, but because we got a DM on Instagram from a group of four friends coming all the way from Newcastle just for the day to try our food. 😱😱😱😱 I mean, the pressure was on.
We just wanted them to feel the trip was worth it… and… it was.
They gave us an amazing review:
“Everyone agreed that the tomato sauce and pesto was incredible, even spooned the remaining sauce up when we had no focaccia left. The gnocchi is probably the best we’ve tasted, the texture was perfect and the mushrooms were so full of flavour. We know how difficult it can be to bring customers to plant-based food, but when we arrived, the line you had was so busy, and it’s because the food is so good. You’re changing people’s minds, one bowl of gnocchi at a time”
They also brought us food; they have a vegan business, too, if you want to check them out.
Future plans 🚀
We have a very busy season, so we can’t plan anything other than that
Marta | Project Manager | Planet G.
Sustainable Kitchen by Gemma Costa (Masterchef the Professionals)
Scottish Street Food Award Champions 2024.
Catering, weddings, events
@planetgfood