I Am Nut OK

“Planet Organic helped us learn what we needed to get to the next level as a brand, so we really appreciate that mentorship from them to help a small brand like ours continue to grow.”?Nivi Jasa and Angela Chou, co-founders of?I Am Nut OK.

Disappointed by the lack of good-quality vegan cheese available, Nivi Jasa felt uninspired to give up his dairy intake, despite wanting to go plant based. His partner, Angela Chou, decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own vegan cheese recipes for him at home. What started as an attempt to inspire Nivi to go vegan, soon became a passion project of Angela’s, leading them to co-found a new vegan cheese brand together, known as?I Am Nut OK.?

Angela started crafting her vegan cheese recipes in 2017, and by December, her and Nivi began selling their products across local markets in London.?“I actually never intended it to be a brand in the beginning,”?says Angela,?“but then we began to see more and more demand each week, and shops started coming to us and asking for our products in store.”Using their backgrounds in design, Angela and Nivi set to work on creating the packaging and brainstorming some catchy names for their products, ‘Blufallo Notzarella’ and ‘C’é Dairy?’?to name a few.?

Despite deciding on their name and packaging for the brand, Angela and Nivi were still beginners when it came to the world of retail.?“Within just 6 months of trading at local markets and selling to neighbours, we were approached by Fortnum and Mason,”?says Nivi,?“and because the initial demand was so great, we really had to learn on the go and decide day-by-day on things like barcodes, use-by dates, batch numbers…”?Though they were novices when it came to the retail market, Angela and Nivi’s joint love of food inspired them to keep going.?“It really was a learning process, but we were lucky that through word-of-mouth, the brand was also gaining popularity,”?says Angela.?“It all started because I wanted to give Nivi a tasty alternative to cheese, and it was great to know that other retailers agreed!”

The word-of-mouth buzz for?I Am Nut OK?soon reached Planet Organic’s door, and in 2018, Nivi and Angela were approached for a possible listing.?“It was at a food festival, during a time when we were still a very small, artisan brand, so we were a bit intimidated at first,”?says Angela,?“but the buyers at Planet made the whole process so easy.”??Nivi adds,?“Yeah, they really helped guide us through the process of it all and made us very relaxed. They made sure we felt we could ask lots of questions, given we were so new to retail, which was really important.”

After getting a listing, Nivi and Angela were very excited to see their products in store,?“If you have your product at Planet Organic, it’s a nice milestone for the brand – you get the acknowledgement of a well-crafted chain that stocks the best products out there. Being able to make it into the shops was a great recognition of all of the hard work we’ve done.”?To have their products spread out across Planet’s stores in London was a huge achievement for Nivi and Angela, along with being a great fit for their brand,?“Not only do we sell plant-based products, which is what Planet’s all about, but we also try to keep our packaging as sustainable as possible. The wedges come in card, all the vacuum-sealed pouches are compostable and we’re zero-waste, so what we call our ‘perfectly wonky’ wedges either go to our market stall or into a lucky dip online.”

As Planet Organic shoppers themselves, Nivi and Angela are very pleased with the partnership,?“The way Planet presents itself as having the most innovative vegan and health-conscious products on offer, like Nudie Snacks’ cauliflower crisps and GT’s Kombucha drink, makes us feel very proud to be there.”?With plans to release some special vegan cheeses this Christmas at Planet Organic,?I Am Nut Ok?is the brand to look out for if you fancy a tasty vegan alternative to your usual dairy fix.?

To find out more about?I Am Nut OK,?head to?www.iamnutok.com ?and check them out on Instagram @iamnutok. To purchase, head into a Planet Organic store or to www.planetorganic.com .