Loui Blake

ALL LEAF NO BEEF TERIYAKI

© Chopstix Noodle Bar
Fast Food

UK Chinese Food Chain Chopstix Noodle Bar Launches No Beef’ Teriyaki Dish in 100 Locations

Chopstix Noodle Bar, operating over 100 locations throughout the UK, has launched a plant-based Teriyaki Beef dish created by Miami Foods called ‘All Leaf, No Beef’ Teriyaki to its stores across the nation in celebration of Veganuary. The noodle bar first launched 20 years ago in the famous Camden Market and now operates locations in almost every major town and city in the UK. The chain launched its first vegan dish — Green Thai Tofu Curry — in 2019, and has since added further vegan options including Pumpkin Katsu Curry and Salt ‘N’ Pepper Potatoes. The new Teriyaki dish entails plant-based ‘beef’ strips with peppers, onions, and Chopstix’ secret recipe sweet Teriyaki sauce. The producer of the vegan beef is London’s Miami Foods, which offers …

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PXB Lifestyle food options

© PXB

Gastronomy & Food Service

Loui Blake Unveils Plant-Based Culinary Concept PXB Lifestyle in Dubai

Celebrating World Vegan Day, entrepreneur Loui Blake, CEO of Miami Foods and seed investor in multiple alt-protein startups, introduces PXB Lifestyle at Expo City’s Sustainability Pavilion in Dubai. PXB Lifestyle aims to go beyond traditional dining by providing a platform for educating consumers about the impacts of a plant-based and vegan lifestyle on personal health and the environment. This dining venue offers a two-tiered experience through PXB Cafe and PXB Restaurant, featuring plant-based menus catering to daytime and evening dining. PXB Cafe’s menu includes notable items like the Carrot Lox Bagel and Katsu Rice, with dessert options like the Raw Carrot Cake. PXB Restaurant, situated on the top floor, offers a more refined rooftop dining experience with an impressive backdrop of Expo City. The menu …

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Chopstix Noodle Bar

© Chopstix Noodle Bar
Food Service

Chopstix Noodle Bar Launches Vegan Beef Stir Fry in Partnership With Miami Foods

UK chain Chopstix Noodle Bar has launched a new topping, Plant Based ‘Beef’ Stir-Fry, at selected stores. The menu option consists of plant-based beef strips, peppers, onions, chillies, garlic, and Chopstix’s Top Secret Stir Fry Sauce. It can be paired with a starchy base such as noodles, or another vegetable-based dish. Initially, the topping will be available at six Chopstix locations — Manchester, Trafford, Peterborough Extra Services, and three London restaurants (Westfield, Lewisham, and Oxford Street). It will roll out nationwide over the coming months. Chopstix Noodle Bar first launched at London’s Camden Market 20 years ago, and now has over 90 stores nationwide. The chain introduced its first vegan option, Green Thai Tofu Curry, in 2019 following significant consumer demand. Miami Foods The plant-based …

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Loui Blake

© Loui Blake
Opinion

OP ED: Loui Blake, Entrepreneur & CEO of Miami Foods

Loui Blake, founder of Erpingham House vegan restaurant and Vegan Dough Co pizza kitchen, as well as CEO of Miami Foods, here gives a call to action amid the current naysaying in mainstream media: we are more powerful when we act together as a collective movement. “The same people and energy that gave rise to this industry can help to continue this growth,” he urges. Plant-based is slowing down? Here’s how we move it forward. By Loui Blake As a plant-based industry, we’ve enjoyed unprecedented levels of growth in recent years. It now looks like a very smart decision to have gone “all in” on plant-based based and leave my other businesses behind back in 2015, but even I was grossly unaware, and not even mildly …

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Loui Blake

© Loui Blake
Interviews

Loui Blake: “My Belief in This Space Has Never Been Stronger”

London-based Loui Blake is known for is work as an entrepreneur, angel investor and public speaker in the plant-based space. Loui opened the UK’s largest vegan restaurant Erpingham House back in 2018 before going on to co-found pizza kitchen Vegan Dough Co during the pandemic, and most recently was named as new CEO of Miami Foods in May of this year. Loui has been busy since we last spoke three years ago, to say the least. We also heard of some exciting developments on the Miami Foods front, so it was time to catch up with Loui and hear his latest news and insights into plantbased business in 2022. Tell us a bit about what you’ve been up to since we last spoke in 2019. …

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© Miami Foods
Company News

Miami Foods Names Loui Blake as New CEO Amid Triple Digit YOY Growth

Vegan entrepreneur Loui Blake has been appointed the CEO of UK rapidly-growing plant-based brand Miami Foods. Previously known as Miami Burger, the vegan producer of clean label alt meats has recently announced triple-digit year-on-year growth since its inception in 2019 and will now enter the retail space after developing its bespoke white label service. Currently available in foodservice as well as retailers including Ocado and Asda, Miami Foods’ appointment of Loui Blake as CEO comes as the company doubles the size of its team to meet the growing demand for its products. Blake, who initially joined Miami as an investor in November 2021, will take over as CEO from 1st June as the company prepares for its series A later this year.  The founder of …

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Erpingham House Popup Location Opens in London

© Erpingham House
Gastronomy & Food Service

Erpingham House Popup Location Opens in London for Veganuary

Erpingham House popup location to open at Cloud Twelve Wellness Club as consumers are encouraged to try a vegan diet this month. The UK’s largest vegan restaurant, Erpingham House, is to open a popup location in London on January 11. The restaurant will take over the brasserie at Cloud Twelve, a wellness and lifestyle club in Notting Hill. This popup will be Erpingham House’s first London location, adding to its existing restaurants in Norwich, Brighton, and Edinburgh. The menu will feature dishes such as Whipped Tofu Parfait, Seitan Filet Mignon, and Forest Mushroom Duxelles, with an emphasis on locally-sourced, sustainable produce. Erpingham House will also create some vegan children’s meals to be served at the Cloud Twelve Kids Club, extending the existing healthy menu. The …

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Club Cultured Wagamama

©Club Cultured

Products & Launches

Tempeh Missionaries: UK’s Club Cultured Launches New Vegan Dishes at Wagamama

Leading UK tempeh producer Club Cultured has announced a partnership with Asian-themed restaurant Wagamama. The deal means that Club Cultured will bring three new dishes to the UK chain’s menus in selected outlets. “At the time we were dreaming of working with Wagamama, we were experimenting with tempeh in a garden shed” Tempeh – made by culturing and fermenting soybeans – has not yet broken into the mainstream food consumer consciousness in the UK, but Club Cultured hopes that the new partnership will start to change that. Tempeh’s Asian origins as well as Wagamama’s commitment to plant-based dishes make this collaboration a natural fit. This year, Wagamama launched a special Veganuary menu and vowed to make half of its dishes meatless in 2021. Self-styled “Tempeh …

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Lou Oates of Vegan Dough Co

Lou Oates, image Courtesy of Vegan Dough Co
Gastronomy & Food Service

Vegan Dough Co’s New Menu Launches Today, Created by Chef Lou Oates of Moby’s Little Pine Restaurant

After opening seven delivery kitchens during lockdown, London and Norwich based Vegan Dough Co, founded by Loui Blake, is relaunching and announces a new and head development chef Lou Oates, formerly executive chef at Moby’s Little Pine in Los Angeles, to bring a fresh approach to its menu.

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Loui Blake

Image courtesy of Erpingham House
Gastronomy & Food Service

UK’s largest Vegan Restaurant Erpingham House Announces Opening Date for Brighton Venue

Two years after opening the largest vegan restaurant in UK, Erpingham House co-founder Loui Blake announces the restaurant’s second location, at 14 Duke street in Brighton. The first location in Norwich was recognised as one of the UK’s top vegetarian restaurants by the Times and was twice nominated by VegFest as restaurant of the year.

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Loui Blake

Image courtesy of Erpingham House
Interviews

Loui Blake: “Our Marketing Strategy Has Driven Customers, and the Product Has Kept Them Coming Back”

Loui Blake is a successful vegan entrepreneur who owns and operates Erpingham House – the UK’s largest plant-based restaurant. He also runs Kalifornia Kitchen in London and has recently completed a crowdfund to open a second restaurant location in Brighton, just 18 months after launching the first.

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