Gabriele Nečejauskaitė: How did I get started making vegan cheeses?

vegan
Interview

Then tell me… If you were a soup, what kind of soup would you be? (Don't worry, we'll move on to more normal questions after this one :D)

Chillies (vegan) with hot potatoes 😀

Interesting! And then say it now. What do you live on? I heard you are active in the production and sales of vegan cheeses?

This is how I live from surrealism 🙈

Could you tell us more about what this job looks like? What exactly are you doing?

Well, at this moment, the seed I planted almost two years ago is slowly growing into an independent tree. What I mean by that is that jobs change, so what a job looked like a year ago and what it is now is a very big difference. And the work used to look like this: you make cheeses, glaze them, pack them, issue invoices and deliver them to customers. During the fairs, you bring a tent, tables, refrigerators and stand there from morning to night talking to people, telling stories, giving them to taste, explaining why one way or another 🙂

And how are cheeses made? What is their recipe? And right away - when did you learn/find out this recipe? From where? Has it changed since the beginning of the activity? Did it stick like it did?

Mr. Danieliau, don't you expect that know-how will be revealed? Such things are kept secret and passed down from generation to generation like a coke recipe 😀

The recipe came to mind while doing a job that I didn't like. I quit my job, but the recipe was just an idea in the air for a while until I finally decided to at least give myself a chance to try the idea. I had no guarantees that I would get something good, but inside I had a grudge when the other ideas that came to me were implemented by someone else, so I told myself that I had to at least try. The recipe has changed a bit since the very beginning due to a certain ingredient having a shorter shelf life. But basically it is the same.

What was the job that you didn't like? Does this have something to do with the fact that the idea took off then?

The work was related to food, I basically did not like the work itself, and the conditions at work and certain nuances, such as long working hours, lack of humanity.

And now that your type of work is changing, you will probably have your own employees as well? Will you be humane to them? And what does this humanity look like?

Somehow you are asking very provocative questions here. It's hard to even answer, because if you visit after that, someone will come up with something before using me🙈 😀

Answer: Yes, I believe I will be, I am demanding, but I realize that we are all people with moods, character and our own problems. As long as I have been working for a salary, I have always felt tension and also underestimating a person if he is in a lower position, I would call it disrespect.

Since I was a child, I thought about what kind of relationship I would like at work. I am convinced that only a person who feels good at work will show excellent results, and money alone is not enough to feel good. Values must exist and must be followed.

Um! And how do you advertise your product? What page do you have? Something? Do you just come to fairs and that's it?

It would be difficult without advertising 🙈

The Goodvibes Kitchen: The world's first vegan (plant-based) cheeses aka tofu desserts. Vegan cheese is your nostalgic trip back to childhood... Discover traditional flavors in a new way, enjoy the moment now.

Do you have any advice for people who have their own products? Let's start with advertising first - what advertising tips do you have? Then, also, wondering how not to go into the red with new businesses?

In order not to go into the red, you first need to advertise and find out if people need it or if they are interested in that product or service. I got this advice myself before starting out, and it was pretty much the most important advice I could have gotten. Because if nobody knows about you and you want to sell your service or product, it will be very difficult. And in order not to go into the red, you need to calculate and think with your head, do not take loans if you see that the business is not going well - this is my personal belief.

And how did you know that people needed it? By the way, what makes your cheeses special? Except it's vegan? (Well, and the fact that they are delicious :D)

I found out after posting on Facebook, if there hadn't been interest, I would hardly have been out of my comfort zone 😅 and after checking Facebook, I checked at an event where the organizers allowed me to do a tasting and try to sell the first cheeses.

Summary that 3/4 of people came to the event not for the event, but to taste "those" cheeses.

The ratings were good, the "overwhelming" state was that night. Cheeses are special in that they contain less sugar, which is now the enemy of fashion, and they also do not contain all kinds of obscure additives, but cheeses are mostly eaten by children, so I think this is important. 😏

How cool! Have you received any offers to sell your recipe to a larger manufacturer? Have you ever thought about it yourself? In startups, there is an attitude that new businesses are grown to be sold - what do you think of this idea?

Recipes are not for sale like written books, they are intellectual property. I received a lot of advice to patent a recipe, unfortunately those who advised it do not know that protection can be provided by a trademark and not a recipe, because if something is changed, the patent is no longer valid and all the money paid for patenting goes to the bank. I'm not thinking about selling the business yet, because the more you plan, the more you get stuck at the top.

Oh, how! I thought it was a bit safer here... Then the secrecy of the recipe is understandable! Is there any other advice you can give to people who also want to start their own business doing what they love and know how to do?

What is really needed is courage and determination, as well as patience and determination to move forward, because in business, as in life, there are ups and downs. And to make it easier to move forward, I recommend finding a mentor/teacher who will not only inspire but also share his experience, which is always necessary for a beginner

Do you have any recommendations, what should or would you advise to follow, read, watch? What books should I read on Facebook, for example? Did you mention Tim Ferriss 4hww?

Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Oprah are people I sincerely admire, they inspire with their stories and achievements, from the authors I would recommend Napoleon Hilla, Tim Ferris 4hww (only her), Robin Sharma's book Saint, Surfer and Leader (she is not well known, but very very good) 🙂

"And is it possible to order cheese online?" Or are they distributed somewhere specifically?"

It is allowed! Biosala.lt, Veggo.lt, Assorti.lt, Baltakarve.lt, we hope to find ourselves soon Barbora.lt in the assortment 😉

Okay!! Thank you so much, Gabriel! 

And these cheeses are really tasty and I recommend buying them. More about them: "The Goodvibes Kitchen".

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