Meat-free food company set to take a big bite out of Birmingham

A SPECIALIST meat-free fast-food company has secured a deal for its first commercial premises in Birmingham city centre.

Not Dogs, which has developed through the fast-track incubator programme Entrepreneurial Spark, will open at the Bullring shopping centre later this year.

Established in 2014, Not Dogs produces a range of meat-free fast-food items including a signature ‘Meaty dogs without the meat’. Created from an exclusive recipe using Quorn, Not Dogs’ creators, Katie McDermott and Jane Yates wanted to make a quick, tasty and simple food that would be appetising to both vegetarians and meat reducers.
 
With five staple options available, the pair have hit the festival circuit for the past two years and the success of this prompted the duo to look for a permanent base in their home city.

They have been buoyed by a strong social media presence, which they have converted into a business stream.

The duo applied for Entrepreneurial Spark’s business accelerator programme, which is run in partnership with NatWest, KPMG and EMC.

Since their acceptance onto the course in February at the Birmingham Hatchery, which is located in NatWest’s offices in St Philip’s Place, they have worked to secure a deal for new premises.

They are now recruiting a number of part-time and full-time employees to work at the outlet.

A local base will also allow the two women to continue to work closely with their mentors at Entrepreneurial Spark in order to up scale the business as quickly as possible.
 
Ms McDermott said: “We wanted to make Not Dogs more accessible to our customers, and transitioning to a fast-casual restaurant format was what our fans wanted so they can enjoy Not Dogs for all seasons of the year.”
 
“Birmingham is the perfect city for our first location, it’s our home, it has a thriving and growing economy and there is a strong community focus on support for independent and start-up companies.”
 
Founder and chief executive optimist at Entrepreneurial Spark, Jim Duffy added: “Since joining the Hatchery in Birmingham, Not Dogs has gone from strength to strength, and it’s great to see Katie and Jane embody the mindsets and behaviours of a successful entrepreneur, alongside the #GoDo attitude needed to really drive their business forward.
 
“I’m excited to see what they’ll achieve over the next few months and have no doubt they’ll go on to accomplish fantastic results.”