Vegan Delivery Company Founder Named Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year

The founder of allplants, Jonathan Petrides, has been named Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year at the inaugural Food & Drink Heroes award.

Nearly 100 founders were shortlisted across 11 categories, with winners determined by a panel of industry experts who assessed finalists’ entrepreneurial stories, rather than just their balance sheet. allplants is a plant-powered food company that delivers chef-made meals across the UK using exquisite supremely healthy food and hyper convenience to inspire more people to start their journey into eating more plants. Since launching in 2017, allplants has won several culinary awards for its boundary-pushing products and built Europe’s largest plant-based kitchen in North London where they are soon to cook their three millionth meal.

Launched by the creators of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Food & Drink Heroes recognises and champions entrepreneurs within the UK’s food and drink industry. The Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year Award was awarded to Jonathan Petrides, founder of allplants, for standing out as someone who has given everything to guiding their business through those all-important nascent stages, while also responding to the many inevitable challenges with a positive and entrepreneurial attitude. allplants has an unmatchable product which customers love, a reliable service and in the last year, Jonathan’s company doubled its monthly meal deliveries, and continues to launch exciting plant-based dishes every month whether it’s breakfast (smoothies and chia pots), lunch (protein power bowls), or dinner (stews, curries and pastas) that are healthier for you and the planet. Reviewed by the Sunday Times’ revered restaurant critic this month, Marina O'Loughlin hailed allplants as: “first-class” and saying she’ll “definitely be ordering again”.

Commenting on the award, Jonathan Petrides, founder of allplants, said: “I became an entrepreneur simply because I felt it was the most effective way to solve humanity’s toughest problems. We created allplants to make eating more plants a supremely positive choice – one that is delicious, healthy, accessible and full of joy, not compromise. This award is another great chance to put plant-based food on the map, keeping us on track with our mission – to inspire the next billion plant-powered people.”

Not only award-winning in taste, but sustainability is also key to Jonathan’s mission. People and planet go alongside profit, with allplants being one of the first food manufacturing brands in the world to achieve B-Corp certification. Dishes are delivered via carbon neutral deliveries, in 100% recyclable and partly compostable packaging. allplants are also committed to using zero air-freighted produce and have donated over 30,000 of its meals to its partners City Harvest. Also, 100% of employees, from kitchen porters to chefs and engineers are granted stock options in allplants when they join the company.

Jason Gibb, co-founder of Bread & Jam, was one of the judges for the category and was blown away by Jonathan’s entry. He said: “allplants is a beautiful demonstration that you can 'do good' whilst creating a business with a big growth potential. Let it be a blue-print for other food & drink brands who feel pressure to compromise to get themselves to market.”