Hello from Anna the Happy Maki Festivals Founder. Each summer the Happy Maki team travel the country rolling fresh and fast sushi burritos in front of festival goes eyes. As each burrito is made to order, customers can add ginger and wasabi to suit and make it a meal deal with a freshly made green juice. We like to think this is the very best of delicious & healthy fast food that will satisfy even the biggest carnivore.
I started the company in 2015, our first festival was Bestival on the Isle of White and we have since catered at over 100 festivals, 7 Glastonbury's, and won BEST FESTIVAL CATERER in 2017 & 2019.​ Happy Maki is much loved festival favourite for thousands of people each Summer.
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We work with full transparency, happy to share all our sales figures with event organisers and we have built up great working relationships over the years because of this. We take great pride in looking after our team, working professionally onsite and being a fully responsible trader that always leaves no trace. All of our staff have level two food hygiene certificates and take great care in making sure only the safest and highest quality food is served.
We have recently gone back to operating two units so we have more availability than normal and more flexibility. Do get in touch if you’d like us to come and cater at your event. We’re always looking for inspirational and fair events to work with. Keep on reading to find out more about us.
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Although we are a vegan company, the food we serve is only one of the many factors we take into consideration when trying to build an ethical business. Our 3 company values guide us in the way we design everything at Happy Maki from our processes and products to our teams and customer service:
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​KINDNESS
TRASNPARENCY
SELF RESPONSIBILITY ​​​​
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CUSTOMER CARE. Putting customers first with fast, genuine service and delicious and good value products.
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PROFESSIONALISM. Creating a hard working, productive, compliant, nurturing, fun and respectful workplace.
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HEALTH. Bringing people together in their passions for making and enjoying healthy nourishing vegan meals
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CHARITY. Helping those who have less than us, we believe no one should be hungry in a world of plenty
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SUSTAINABILITY. Being careful and regenerative with resources where possible thus minimising the harm that we have on the environment and its animals.
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As a business that was founded out of a desire to do something to help the environment this is something that we remain very passionate about. A summary of what we feel we do well is below
BIO DEGRADABLE PACKAGING ONLY
MINIMAL PACKAGING PER PRODUCT (1 SHEET PAPER)
OUR BUSINESS UNIT IS POWERED BY SOLAR PANELS
VEGAN MENU WITH LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT
PREVIOUS TREE PLANTING INITIATIVE - 430,017 TREES
MINIAL FOOD WASTE BEACAUSE WE PREP AS WE GO
Using Carbon Cloud we have looked in detail at the carbon footprint of our menu and we have won sustainability awards for our Sushi burritos and their low footprint. Figures for our 4 main wraps are below :
AVOCADO KISS 0.35 KG CO2
THAI SWEET POTATO 0.35 KG CO2
FULLY LOADED 0.34 KG CO2
HOISIN DUCK 0.33 KG CO2
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PLANET AND PEOPLE ​
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Looking after our staff onsite is really important to us as the working environment can be very hard on the body. Our staff are paid more than living wage and we try and avoid shifts going over the 10 hours mark.
We have strict protocol regarding drugs and alcohol whilst at work, so the only drinks you'll see us giving to our team are smoothies and green juice to our staff help keep hydrated, safe and happy!
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Although our calendar is quite full with music Festivals, we do have free weekend and have catered at both weddings and corporate gigs. We are also able to provide sushi burritos delivered to your event if its within an 60 mile radius of Cirencester.
We find wedding catering works best either as delivered burritos or our trailer parked up serving guests food "festival style". We dont do full catering for sit down wedding breakfasts. If you're interested in booking us please drop us an email with your requirements and we can quote you for the job.
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A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM ANNA THE FOUNDER
It was around 9 years ago that I turned vegan, I could no longer call myself an environmentalist and still eat meat. So one new years eve I made the resolution purely out of moral obligation and that evening I binged on all the meat I could get my hands on. Conveniently I was at a party with a barbecue buffet... whoops. However, since that night I've never looked back or regretted my decision in the slightest it was the best wake up call. Giving up animal products and alcohol has hands down been the best physical lifestyle change I have made.
You cannot deny that animal agriculture is the leading cause of, deforestation, water pollution, habitat loss, species extinction, soil erosion and global greenhouse gas emissions. It's also great for your health and most importantly it means you're no longer contributing to unnecessary killing and suffering of animals.
I felt the biggest benefits from being vegan came once I'd faced up to and connected with the heartbreaking side of animal slaughter and exploitation. I would never have been able to kill a cow, pig, chicken or duck but the fact that I had been willing to pay someone else to do that traumatic job showed a large issue of ethics in me.
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Its obvious that the western world is addicted to meat. It provides "satisfaction" filling a hole left by the lack of connection, passion and hope. It's also a symbol of masculinity and wealth as we are often told that we need meat to be strong and healthy which isn't true. I know my Dad felt really "proud" of me when I'd finish a rack of ribs on my own as a kid, theres a lot of weird messaging in families around meat. Many world class athletes have proven its actually beneficial to be on a vegan diet, so it's just not justifiable to say that its not good for you when for example the best tennis players of our time, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic who are top of their game.
Going vegan in the western world is very easy now and it's cost effective. So when people ask me why I am vegan I find the question so bizarre, I'm always curious to hear WHY PEOPLE AREN'T VEGAN ? When it ....
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Hugely helps the environment
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Hugely helps your health if you’re eating mainly wholefoods
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Does not involve killing or exploiting an animal.
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It makes you much happier if you do it for the right reasons
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To me it seems like a no brainer. I do get that people are scared of change and scared of the perceived sacrifice of their favorite foods. If I can leave you with one point on veganism I can assure you you wont be sacrificing anything you'll only be gaining SO MUCH.
Yes it might take some time for your taste buds and habits to adjust. Think of it like going from having 3 sugars in your tea to 0, at the start you think that that the straight tea tastes HORRIBLE. Then after a while your taste buds adjust you can actually taste the flavours in the tea now and when you go back to try the sugary one, you think .... how on earth did I drink that its disgusting.
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I can only encourage you or anyone to at least try the experiment, do it for 6 months or a year to get all the seasons in and give yourself time to get educated on the topic give it a genuine crack. Then even if you dont want to continue with it for whatever reason, you will have an informed opinion (unlike Piers Morgan). It might prove to be life changing like it has been for me, for many of my friends and for the other estimated 2.5 million vegans in the UK. What is actually to loose from trying it... I cant think of anything but there is so much to potentially gain.
So whether you're looking to reduce meat intake, are vegan or just like good
tasting sushi you're all equally welcome at Happy Maki we have many a
carnivore customer and I'm proud to have created a menu that showcases
how great vegan food can be. Being part of a community of vegan business
working hard to bring about positive global change is a privilege and a small
step in the right direction of huge change that is needed if we're going to
turn our world around to avoid serious disasters.
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Anna x ​
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