It all began on a Circle Line train in London one morning at the end of 2006…. Alan, our founder, was on his way back to the office with his workmate, Dave, after a meeting in town. Like so many people out there, neither of them felt fulfilled by their 9-5… Dave spent his days dreaming of bikes whilst Alan stared out of the window dreaming of stew……..
So, rather than sitting on their laurels, they both decided to jump ship and take a risk and, 16 months later Alan had created stewed! whilst Dave moved to Kent to set up bikegoo. Thank goodness for the Circle Line!
With the help of Alan’s friend Kathryn, the first stewed! pot was sold on a snowy day in April 2008 in Alexandra Palace Farmers’ market in north London. Their kitchens became mini factories, places where kilos of chickpeas were soaked, where mountains of vegetables were chopped and where outdoor reared pork was gently cooked till meltingly tender….
A few weeks later, when Budgens and Harvey Nichols came knocking on the door, more appropriate premises were called for – after all, their fridges could only hold 70 pots! So, a small kitchen unit in Park Royal beckoned and stewed! began to grow…
Sadly, Kathryn moved out to Canada to live but in July 2009, Alan was joined by Mark in his quest to feed the nation with tasty stewed! pots and slowly but surely, they started to appear on the shelves of national retailers.
The icing on the cake arrived in October 2009 when Ebury Press asked Alan to write the first stewed! cookbook…. It was released in October 2010 and is now on sale in all good book shops! Get in touch if you’d like to know where.
That’s the story so far!