Welcome to Vendor Spotlights, where we introduce you to the incredible people and stories behind the restaurants, businesses and caterers helping Feedr feed the workforce – for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. Today’s spotlight focuses on Vanda’s Kitchen, an organically accredited and vegan trademarked company inspired by Brazilian cuisine. The company set out with the major goal of building a transparent and business which provides nutritionally balanced and naturally delicious meals for people with hectic schedules.
Building the Business
Vanda’s Kitchen is run by Debora and Robert, who were inspired to start their own business after trying out a variety of meal services designed for busy schedules. Robert enjoyed the convenience of the service but found that there was always something missing in the food itself, which often disregarded taste in favour of having the right ingredients. Luckily, Debora’s mother, the eponymous Vanda herself, was looking for something to fill her time and offered to prepare these meals for Robert.
Now Vanda was in the kitchen there was no need to worry about bland-tasting food, utilising her years of knowledge and experience in cooking Brazilian food. Debora functioned as translator between the two, and in bridging the gap between Robert’s desire for healthy, nourishing food, and the delicious taste of her mother’s cooking she found that together they were able to produce exactly what they’d been looking for – flavourful, exciting food that refused to compromise on the nutritional value.
Vanda’s Kitchen first opened up in 2019, only four months before the first national lockdown. This naturally led to some unforeseen setbacks in the early days of the business, as all businesses were suffering, but due to their dedication and hard work they are now ready to grow.
Although the first lockdown was a time of considerable uncertainty for all food businesses, they decided to utilise this time to prepare themselves for the rigorous process of getting their organic accreditation. They were tired of seeing health businesses and influencers skirting around the issue of transparency, and so decided early on that the most important tenet of their business was being as open as possible, so that people could really trust in their food.
In order to fulfil this, they’ve become fully accredited as an organic and vegan business, ordering only from certified organic suppliers and ensuring that all the information for their food is clearly labelled on the packaging.
Developing a Delicious Menu
The menu at Vanda’s kitchen is expanding every day, with Debora taking the lead on product development, continually focusing on making sure their food nourishes the body and satisfies your taste buds. This ability to bring the two together they feel is best represented in their Thai Coconut Salmon, featuring a beautiful piece of organic fish sourced from Ireland, where Robert is from, with deliciously savoury coconut that really brings out the natural flavours of the salmon.
If fish isn’t your thing, there’s plenty of other great options available on their expansive menu. If you’re looking for something with a bit of Brazilian flare, check out their tapioca wraps. These tapioca wraps are inspired by a traditional Brazilian street food made from manioc or tapioca starch and coconut flakes, cooked to order and served up as a crepe with a variety of sweet and savoury fillings. The wraps are naturally gluten-free and vegan, so they were a great place for the team at Vanda’s Kitchen team to explore how to take traditionally healthy elements of food and work to elevate them so that they were as nutritionally dense as they were flavourful. Their wraps continue the versatility of the traditional crepes, but instead turned to fillings that will keep you full and satisfied throughout the workday, no matter if you order it with almond butter and bananas or with organic BBQ chicken.
In the future, Vanda’s Kitchen is continually growing, and they are currently working on getting their living wage accreditation and bringing even more products to their menu. Although running the business keeps them very busy, operating alongside their normal jobs, this allows them to really appreciate the needs of their core customer, perfecting the foods needed to maintain a busy schedule that makes you feel great, both physically and mentally.
Interested in having Vanda’s Kitchen delivered to the office?
Check out their menu below to get an office food delivery from Feedr, or check out their website if you’re searching for more bespoke options.
