Christmas Spiced Pudding, Mince Pies, Ginger Bread Biccies, Yummy Hampers, Frosty Fingers, Busy Crazy Bees! Christmas is here!

The Hackney Belly have been as you can imagine incredibly excitably busy!

The two markets (The Cally Market every Saturday and Camden Passage every Sunday) are doing really well. We've been selling out of mince pies and savoury muffins and people have been coming back to buy more jam after finishing off previously bought jars in a week! 

AAAAAAND! We're going to be at a Christmas Pop up market in 

Dalston Pier 20th-23rd December!!!!

All this amazing new work as well as providing fresh sandwiches to three cafes! 

It's been quite a busy but fun and festive month!!!

The past two weeks we've been making (alongside our muffins and scones) lots and lots of mince pies, gingerbread men and started making delicious spiced vanilla bread & Butter pudding using delicious Artisan Food Sourdough bread which didn't get cut up for sandwiches, so nothing gets wasted!

Its' hamper time too! Omer bought some beautiful wicker baskets which you can fill with jam, chutney, mince pies, Ginger Bread men/trees/stars and give as a lovely belly gift or to keep for yourself!

As you can imagine the kitchen has been really busy so we got a few friends to kindly help us out. We could not have done this without the kindness and generosity of such great friends!

Missy and Thuy have not only helped out in the kitchen. They've braved the cold and worked on our market stall at The Cally Market. 

Missy making delicious bacon and cheddar muffins

Thuy making Scone dough

My lil sister Arooj and partner Andrew also helped out in the kitchen 

Bossy me in the middle

Andrew Inspecting a muffin!

 

My beautiful sister icing the gingerbread

It's definitely been pretty exciting!

We work hard but have a lot of fun in our Kitchen.

Listen to good music and make delicious food 

The Hackney Belly way.

As you can see the outcome of all this love and fun in the kitchen turns out a looking like this!

Come down to The Cally Market, Camden Passage and Dalston Pier for some tasty treats for you or a friend. There are amazing finds on different stalls for foodies and vintage clothes hunters alike!

Merry Christmas!!!!

To market to market, to sell our great scones!

It's been an eventful week!

We got our own fabulous logo made by the amazing Izzy Gaon

We also held our very first market stall at The Camden Passage last Sunday... and sold out of all our baked goods!

Nell(me) out of the kitchen for a bit

Omer happy as can be

Our amazing friends Melissa and Thuy were kind enough to volunteer in the kitchen and help me with making our beautiful sell out muffins and scones.
We made Smokey Bacon and Mature Cheddar Muffins, Rosemary and Cheddar Muffins, Kale, Carrot, Cumin and pumpkin seed muffins, Apple and Cinnamon Muffins and some lovely mini scones to go with our jams!

Also started on the Mincemeat for our pies next week... lots of spice and brandy to warm you up in the winter!

Thuy and Melissa

 

The Camden Passage market was also new... so we were quite nervous that we wouldn't sell much...
So Sunday arrived and we set up our stall and before we even finished we sold a Bacon and Cheddar muffin... then another... then a scone and so on until over halfway through our time there we sold out of all our savoury muffins followed swiftly by sweet muffins and then the scones... we even sold a fair few jams and chutneys too!
We also got positive feedback from 100% of our customers!!!

Apple and cinnamon muffins (above)
Kale, Carrot, Cumin and Pumkin seed muffins(below)

Scones to go with our delicious jams

Omer and his lovely girlfriend Klaudia with our sellout scones

We're looking forward to starting our second market this Saturday at The Cally Market and continuing our Sunday Market with The Camden Passage.
I'll be making double the amount of muffins and scones followed by ...
Mince Pies and Gingerbread Men and Xmas shaped Cookies!!!!!!!!

See you there!!!

So where are we now...

Hey all,

Been a while but up until a few weeks ago The Hackney Belly had nothing special to report.

Business as usual. 

We didn't get the Deli in Morning Lane... Our decision... too close to Christmas to invest in another premises....next spring will be better for us.

Good note is that we have our own kitchen which we love!!! 

We have our own fridge, Oven and induction hobs and lots of space!

The sandwiches are doing well and we started wholesaling jam to another cafe.

We've been experimenting with product ideas, savoury muffins, making jams and chutneys.

Gotta make Mince meat for Mince pies this week.

Kale, Carrot, Cumin and Pumpkin seed muffins

We needed to make more jam as we realised there was a demand for them.

I get a text message from Omer at 8am saying that he's bought a 100kilos of fruit from New Spitalfields market at 7am and to get to the kitchen early... I got there as soon as I could and I got fronted with the image below 

boxes of berries 

By the end of the day I knew we needed help so emailed the amazing Thuy who was kind enough to assist us on Saturday. She went through a ridiculous amount of berrys to ensure we didn't get any mouldy pieces that could potentially ruin a whole batch of jam. She took one break and didn't complain one bit...she is an absolute star!!!

Thuy checking raspberries

posing with the fruit

raspberry jam cooking away

Omer and I finally finished 10pm Saturday night... scrubbing jam off the walls, floor and surfaces.

Our eyes were blurry we had bits of jam on our eyebrows, shoes ... but we were happy.. we have a years supply of jam.. we hope to sell out before then though.

Working like a dog

Hey so we're just working... and working.
I did leave Omer alone for a week so he worked whole days... When I say whole days I mean 20 hours in a day with 4 hours left over to stop yourself going mad and to remind yourself what your name is.
He forgives me. I relieved him for a day or two with Andrew assisting me

I came back and got straight back into it.
The night shifts, the early mornings... All that prep and making of... sandwiches.
Sandwiches....   The bread and butter of our business consisting of two slices of bread, spread and filling.
The Hackney Belly started out on these simple yet world known goodies. Used in your kids packed lunch or in your posh afternoon tea at The Wolsley.

Soon, we will have our deli and be known for other things other than sandwiches... amazing dishes and preserves. fresh greens groceries from your local allotment. Great Coffee... music and good times at The Hackney Belly!

Unfortunately, the premises we hoped to bag in Hackney is looking less likely to happen... I won't go into detail but the way the deal hs been going it's probably safer for us to duck out of the mess as we just don't have the big budget bank to deal with it if it all goes down... I think a pub or wine bar... even big brand business's could survive the whole deal that changes daily.

Good news for now is that we may be able to start working in our own kitchen next week!
Instead of sharing with Artisan Foods and German Deli... getting in their way and also working round their clock which gets in our way.
We'll finally get our own space!!!

Small steps make big waves (yep cheesy whatever!)

What happened this week?

Some early morning prepping:

Some cats:

First delivery(all packaging is compostable by the way):

Some markets:

First bike delivery:

Some advertising:

More prepping (Falafel!) :o)

Sandwiches in shop!:

God knows what the future holds 

(probably a sandwich right now)

Possible Deli!!!

We got our Trailer for our bikes yesterday. A large "Carry Freedom" on which our precious cargo will be placed and ridden around East London... Yes that's right you'll see me riding around with one of those trailers being sworn at by taxi drivers as I slowly climb up roads so as not to damage my goods.


On our way in the van going round collecting different pieces of equipment from date labels to Tupperware boxes we saw a vacant retail property right by Omer's place... big enough and amazing enough for us.
Called the number penned in on the door and left a message.... Andrew the landlord immediately called back and starting asking me a number of questions... "How much are you thinking of charging for goods, what kind of food are you making?" Omer raised an eyebrow as he listened to me responding to the inquisition... "Sorry... erm... Why do you need to know any of this... I don't know the prices yet as I don't have a deli yet...". Basically he didn't want to rent his place out to a "KFC" type place as was trying to build a new look for his property which work with the whole gentrification of the area.


After I told him what we were about and what we wanted.... we set up a meeting later on to view the property and have a chat.... EXCITEMENT LEVEL 1000!


After that it was all boring phone calls and emails trying get things like liability insurance, HACCP stuff, Food hygiene stuff, banking etc... 


Went to meet with Andrew the landlord at the much wanted property, and the place looked amazing! It had a bar, a deli bit, kitchen toilet facilities and a music studio downstairs which he said he was thinking of keeping for sessions to rent out and to use as he is a musician!!! Omer was happy as ever. Telling Andrew that not only is he a musician but a sound engineer with friends who are in similar field. The place has a liquor licence too! We talked about our ideas for an hour! Andrew told us it would be a good idea to email him a bit about us and what we wanted to do as he is one of three partners that own the property so we'd have to convince them as well... They had yet to give the keys to an agency so we were the very first people to view it!


The place is in such a good location as well!! A school is opening in September, a fashion area is opening up on the street by it!! This will definitely be a busy joint!


If we get it we'd be open in September!!!!


Oooooh We're changing our name soon! But not telling you here until we register it! Much more suited! 


EEEK! xxx

P.S I'm enjoy this right now at Foxcroft & Ginger! 

Meetings, paper work and yay!

So... two days to go before The Hackney Deli officially starts making and selling.

Omer and I have been going crazy trying to get every last thing done.
That is equipment from things as simple as a squeezy bottle for oil and dressing to big things trailer for bikes.

I spent the whole of Wednesday morning trying to find a trailer big enough to carry our goods to the tree locations we have to travel to.... what made it harder was that we needed it nearby so we could collect it and everywhere had more or less sold out of the required item.
While I was racking my brain doing this mundane job, Omer was applying information on an online book-keeping site so we can keep our finances in order and send invoices out and all those other lovely things.

Next was a meeting in Spitalfields with our client to touchbase before everything went ahead on Monday. Even though left the unit (traveled via rail) 15 mins earlier than Omer(traveled via bike) he managed to get there early... lesson learned Bikes are awesome public transport is bleh!
All in all meeting was great. Client loves our food so fingers crossed... month down the line they still love us.

So now we start ordering stuff

Cycling from Pimlico to Hackney Wick will be a small thing after a while...
That's what I'm telling myself after the supposed 47 minutes it says it takes on the cyclestreet app I have on my phone turned into 1 hour and 15 mins counting my stopping every so often to check the app on my phone to see where I was and then the turning around from where ever I ended up after cycling too far from my chosen destination...


So after an hour and 15 mins of panting in the humid city...I meet Omer at the unit in Hackney Wick and we start going through the order list from one of our suppliers....going through all the items and prices and inputting it all onto a spreadsheet that Omer has set up that calculates everything all our spending for us. 
He's clever like that.


We took a break and went for lunch at The Hackney Pearl. 
We had a well earned flat white, Mezze platter and a pint of prawns followed by a cookie each.


As I arrived back at the unit I was greeted by one of the unit mousers, Willy! The cutest kitty mouser ever. So very friendly and ready to play. Of course I took 100 pictures and uploaded them instantly (if you're on my facebook then you've already been attacked by many instagram kitty updates) so took an extended break stroking and playing with the young mouser...while Omer placed the orders from suppliers

Next was buying equipment. Luckily one of Klaus's units which he has been happy to share with us til our working area is up and ready has a few appliances available for us to use...but we still need a few things like a meat grinder for Falafal making and a bike trailer for transporting lovely goodies.


Found one online at Stratford Argos ready to be picked up so away we went eagerly and excited about our first Deli owned equipment to use for our very own delicious Falafal and Red Pepper sauce.  As soon as we collected our new appliance I got giddy. Omer couldn't wait to take her home and test out the ready and waiting chickpeas.


Omer left me at The Hackney Pearl where Andrew (my patient other half) was working away from work with the gift of wifi.
We immediately ordered our dinner of Carrot, Cumin and Orange soup followed by Schnitzel and slaw and a side of Anya Potatoes.


Which have arrived so I'm going to enjoy them so see ya! x

A lil boring history about me feel free to skip...

So I'm 15 years old and I'm going on and on about starting up my own Cafe... stupidly looking at Ikea catalogues and wondering how much I could get if I saved x amount of pocket money...

years go by... 

I'm 19 moving out of my parents place getting distracted working in a call centre.... years go by again and I'm trying to start a band and then 22 years old working 9-5 for Southwark council call centre... then make up artist ... then I'm in Canary Wharf working as a Junior Marketing Exec. 

I'm 24ish starting a small events business with friends that was fun but expensive and went down like a sinking ship and ruined a friendship or two... worked as a personal Assistant....I also ended up nearly dying from a near fatal asthma attack... hospital for 9 days with hospital staff repeatedly telling me I was lucky to be alive.

I had enough....

I'm 26 and I still want to have my own cafe... only this time a Deli Cafe (after realising London was being submerged and over saturated in Gourmet Cafe's of deliciousness)

I was given the best advice by a friend "if you want to start a business you have to work in the industry" soooo I spent a year or two working on Artisan food's Market stalls, worked as a baking assistant for Nutmeg Frog for a year, working as a Deli Chef doing 80 to 100 hours a week for York and Albany for over a year and then worked as a Barista, shop assistant and occasional Commis Chef at La Fromagerie...

I'm now 30 years old and have been given the best opportunity to start my own Deli Cafe with my good Friend Omer and Klaus my old boss and the owner of Artisan Foods and co-owner of Prufrock cafe.

To basically start up supplying a cafe with our delicious food and getting a guaranteed income for the business, to sell our yummy goodies on markets and to start building up slowly before we can then get a retail property and start our amazing Deli! 

Today I am no longer employed but self-employed.

I'll be working constantly, there is no holiday pay, there is no sick days this is our business and I'm so happy and excited!!!!

This could all go to shit it's early days but I wanted to show that people can do it... Yes it's scary but anything is possible if you work your ass off and you love doing it x