A renowned Team GB athlete who was named as one of the UK’s most ambitious business leaders, Lisa Gawthorne launched vegan food company, Bravura Foods with business partner and good friend Karl Morris, after struggling to find a decent availability of vegan products in the UK market, a situation which is undeniably different now in 2019 to that which she found eight years ago.
Bravura Foods represents, markets, sells and distributes a number of household vegan brands including Panda Liquorice, Freedom mallows, Captain Kombucha, Vegan Bakery and Little Miracles. The company also owns Peanut Hottie, and vegan confectionery brand, Free From Fellows.
Since launching in 2011 the company has become the leading vegan distributor in the market. On course for 50% annual growth, it has a projected 2018 turnover of over £5m, and a staff of 11 staff working from its HQ in London. Its brands are found in over 4,000 stores in the UK, including Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose, Morrisons, ASDA, Booths, and Holland & Barrett.
Lisa studied at the University of Liverpool, receiving a 1st in Business, Economics and Marketing, and is a passionate commentator on the role of women in business. In a recent Twitter blog for Veganuary, Lisa said of vegan business, “Over the past ten years, there has been a 260 percent rise in vegans in the UK […] Not a day goes by where I don’t learn more about local restaurants that may have put a new vegan dish on the menu, or a new vegan product that one of the supermarkets have started stocking.”
