The story of Plant Blonde, Glasgow's new vegan cafe and bakery

A lockdown hobby that saw her leave her career in education behind for good, the gifted baker has taken the huge lifestyle change in her stride and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Pictured: Plant Blonde owners and founders Jennifer and Marc at their new location

Taking us back to where it all began, she said: “I had just come home from Bali when the first lockdown happened.

“I was due to take a job at a local primary school but had to wait three months before starting because of restrictions.

“I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing so I needed to find something that would keep me busy.

“I’ve always been a big coffee person and noticed that wherever I went there were hardly any vegan options, or they would all be serving the same thing.

“I came home one day and just said to myself: ‘I’m going to make a vegan empire biscuit, surely it can’t be that hard.”

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Pictured: Plant Blonde's signature bakes

And so came the beginning of Jennifer’s own vegan empire, despite never having experimented with more than cupcakes or fruit loaves with her grandfather as a child.

Surprised by how well her biscuits turned out, Jennifer, her best friend Rebecca and partner Marc Sorbie got to work designing logos and launching an Instagram page for what would soon become Plant Blonde Vegan Bakery.

She said: “Looking back, that first batch was awful, but I just haven’t stopped baking since.

“It’s all come along so quickly.

“I was making all of my biscuits from home and soon got my partner Marc involved.

“He worked in oil and gas before so again, it couldn’t have been more different to his day job, but he picked it all up so easily and became one of the head bakers.

“Before long it got to the point where cafes were reaching out to us to ask if we would supply them with our biscuits.

“I’ve been really amazed by how supportive everyone has been.”

Pictured: Construction work at the Partick cafe is well underway

You’ll likely have clocked Plant Blonde’s signature biscuits at some of Glasgow’s most popular cafes from health food enthusiasts Juicy on Byres Road to Caffeine in Battlefield proving that going vegan by no means sacrificing on taste.

Now, the team are getting ready to move into their own permanent home on Hyndland Street in Partick.

Due to open in early Spring, the café will be a celebration of sustainability and local produce with vegetables supplied on demand from locally based Kinkell Farms.

Even the interiors have been carefully designed to ensure that the café is as eco friendly as possible and uses no materials that are made from animal products.

Pictured: Jennifer says Plant Blonde won't be your regular cafe

Jennifer said: “We’ve put so much time and effort into the café already.

“There are architects and project managers working away and we recently started recruiting for staff.

“The response was overwhelming. We had so many people getting in touch to say that they wanted to work with us because they share our ideas and beliefs.

“That was so important to us because it means the world that we’ll be working with people who are passionate about the same things that we are.”

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It’s clear to see that Jennifer is on a mission to make sure that the café becomes a welcoming community hub as well as giving Plant Blonde the space to expand and reach its full potential.

As a final word on what we can look forward to she said: “People might just assume that it will be like your usual takeaway, but it’s going to be unbelievable.

“Even if you aren’t vegan it’s all about good food, bringing people together and creating a bit of buzz.

“Our main aim is to make sure that it that it’s going to be a place for everyone.”

For more information on Plant Blonde click here.