Wellingborough shop is buzzing about birthday celebrations

Emma Hornett launched Hornett Wholefoods in Midland Road, Wellingborough, on January 3, 2015.

Two years on, the business is going from strength to strength with between 700 and 800 vegan and vegetarian products on offer and the hope of moving to bigger premises in the future.

Emma felt it would be great to celebrate their success so far, and said: “We didn’t have one for the first year so thought it would be nice to do something this year.

“We wanted to really give ourselves a push.

“I think we are quite well established and people have heard of us as well.”

Emma and husband Jonathan have lived in Wellingborough for 14 years, and they were always keen to start their new business in the town rather than elsewhere.

Emma said: “There are a lot of independent shops in Wellingborough, especially if you go up Cambridge Street.

“I think it’s good to support each other and good to show that you can do it.”

She said social media has been great in getting their name out there, and added: “This is our acorn and one day we will have our supermarket.

“That’s our plan for this business to grow and grow.

“We took more money in 2016 than 2015, which is what you want.

“The market is certainly there.”

Emma said their bestsellers include vegan cheese, local honey and cider vinegar, and they will try to source products from elsewhere if a customer has a specific request.

The customers are important to Emma, who said: “There are lots of regular customers and I love them all, they are all fantastic.

“A number of them I would now consider as friends.”

Tomorrow’s (Saturday) party runs at the shop from 9am until 5.30pm with a free glass of prosecco, demonstrations and food tastings.

While the party runs all day, there will be some special tastings around lunchtime, including pizza cooked in the shop by the Incredible Bakery Company from Warkton.

A number of other county businesses are supporting the shop’s anniversary, including VBites of Corby, Granovita of Wellingborough, Seed and Bean of Corby and Goodness Foods of Daventry.

Emma said there are many meat-free businesses in Northamptonshire, and added: “We work closely with a lot of local producers, we try to highlight them in the shop.

“We try to give a little push to local companies as much as we can.”

Several national companies have also got involved with this weekend’s party, including the Raw Chocolate Company, Plamil Foods and Suma, which has donated a hamper to raffle off and raise funds for Animals In Need in Little Irchester.