Get to know KALE+COCO, a conscious eating culture located in Stoneybatter, Dublin
What is your name?
Rebecca Feely
What is your business about, tell us when did it start and what products or services do you offer?
KALE+COCO started out as a Smoothie Bowl pop-up in 2017 and after a few more pop-ups, we opened our first cafe in Dublin 7 in February 2019.
We are a 100% plant-based cafe, all of our food is dairy-free, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free and we use organic ingredients as much as possible.
Everything on our menu is designed to make you feel your best! Our mission is to engage the Irish population in a conversation around food; to create a conscious eating culture and to build a platform where people feel comfortable exploring new foods.
How are you guys dealing with the pandemic situation?
After initially closing for 4 weeks following the first lockdown announcement, we re-opened as a coffee hatch serving just drinks and treats from the door of the cafe.
We were very limited in terms of what we could offer due to staff limitations. We’ve since opened the doors to the cafe (still doing take-away only) and have been able to take back more of our staff and offer a wider menu as well as selling some retail products.
We are gradually getting back to operating full hours and offering a full menu but it has been a struggle as our revenue has been down at least 50% and we still have all of our operating costs to deal with. We’re doing our best!
Who are your costumers?
Our customers are mainly the local residents of Stoneybatter and Dublin 7 as well as students in the nearby TUD campus and vegan tourists.
We find that the majority of our customers are not actually vegan but are just interested in healthy eating and reducing their meat consumption a couple of days a week!
How do you see the vegan community in Ireland?
We’ve found the vegan community in Ireland to be incredibly supportive, passionate and loyal.
It’s still quite a small percentage of the population in comparison to other countries but we love how vocal and supportive they are about new vegan businesses and how passionate they are about the cause!
How can people find out more about your business?
We’re very active on both our Facebook (Kale+Coco) and Instagram (@kaleandcoco) accounts and they can also check out our website: www.kaleandcoco.com.
