When you think of music festivals there are a few things that will immediately spring to mind – but vegan sweets might not be among them.
However, Sammie Radley has built a business around providing sweets and treats for children and adults with the munchies, and has now re-launched her venture as vegan, and gluten and palm oil free.
Having toured the summer festivals since 2004 with Liquorice World, Mrs Radley, a “life-long” vegetarian, decided to re-brand the business in 2019 as Lick.
The mum-of-three launched the venture at GoldCoast Oceanfest, in Croyde, North Devon, in June 2019, and will be hitting the major festivals around the South West this summer.
But she is giving Glastonbury a miss this year, even though she has been at Worthy Farm for every festival since 2004, when Oasis and Sir Paul McCartney topped the bill, until her new business gets established.
“It was my first event with Liquorice World,” she said. “But this year I’ll sit it out for just one year and be back next year."
She will, however, be at lots of other events including Boardmasters, Chagstock, Wonderfields, Green Man, Boomtown and even Dartmouth Regatta.
Mrs Radley also covers the Christmas markets, including in Exeter, but in the main her money is made between May and September.
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And she doesn’t mind the travelling. Although she has a house in Plymouth’s leafy Peverell area, she has Romany blood. Her father is and she is also related to the Rowland family of Anderton and Rowland's fair fame.
“So I have been brought up at events,” she said. “And now I have been at festivals with my liquorice stand for the past 15 years. I love the livestyle.
“The festivals are paving the way for other businesses to be sustainable – and people get the munchies at festivals.
“But as a life-long vegetarian I could not even try some of the sweets I sold, so I decided in January 2019 to go down the sustainable route."
Mrs Radley, who shuns milk but does eat eggs, said that many everyday sweets have palm oil in them. Some have gelatin, meaning they are not even vegetarian, or dye from the insect cochineal.
“Some even have beeswax to make them shiny,” she said.
Lick sells pick-n-mix, including liquorice cables and lollies, which have none of these products in them.
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“I found manufacturers that made products that are vegan, gluten free and palm oil free," Mrs Radley said. “Mine are made with coconut oil."
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The Vegan Society said there are about 540,000 vegans in Great Britain. It's estimated this is up from 150,000 in 2006, and that there are twice as many women than men who are vegan.
“More and more people are going vegan and festivals are all about sustainability," said Mrs Radley. “And my new business has been really well received. When I tell people the products are vegan they are surprised."
She added: "I also had a new stall made, new signs designed and my website launches in July. The stall is a wooden frame on a marquee, hand made and hand painted. It takes three hours to set up. The packaging is all eco-friendly too, it’s all based around sustainability.”
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To contact William Telford: william.telford@reachplc.com