Vegetarian eatery Let Them Eat has expanded onto The Parade, in a new pop-up in the Norwood Place shopping centre.

It’s been 12 years since Let Them Eat first began serving its vegetarian and vegan fare to the Adelaide marketplace, and our eating habits have changed dramatically over that time.

Danielle Frankish, who co-owns the business with her wife, chef Tanya Agius, remembers the strange attitude the general public had towards vegetarians in 2008.

“I was a vegetarian 12 years ago, and I was [seen as] an absolute freak: ‘You are some hippy, enviro, crazy-arse freak. What are you doing?’ It was that bad,” she recalls.

“It seems crazy now, but the market has pivoted towards us. This is how we like to eat.”

Since moving on from their first store in Croydon, Danielle and Tanya have been a fixture of the Central Market Arcade and have pushed hard in the wholesaling, catering and events spaces.

With the benefit of a business entrepreneurs grant, the duo has spent much of the last 18 months growing the business into a new phase.

“We got some help through the Business Enterprise Centre, to have a bit of a report done and figure out where we were at, and effectively solidify us as not a small business flying around doing everything ourselves – which we still do,” Danielle says.

“So Robert Lloyd, who does a lot of stuff with business, he came in and did a report and said, ‘It’s a great business,’ and it was nice to have someone else tell you that, ‘and if you do these four things and it’s going to be an even better business, and it’ll help you have more time, and to have systems in place.’

“He gave us the name of a really good business specialist, who gave us the name of a really good marketing specialist, who gave us the name of a food safety specialist – all of these people lined up.”

Danielle and Tanya have a well-defined view of what Let Them Eat is and should be going forward, and so growth for Let Them Eat meant not messing around with the concept, but instead finding new avenues to serve people.

This became particularly important as COVID hit and the events and catering side of the business all but disappeared.

With a presence now established at Burnside and Marion, the couple has recently been scouting spaces in pursuit of new markets.

A space in the Norwood Place shopping centre popped up, which ticked a lot of boxes.

“Norwood is full demographic. If you want to shop for something specific, for something nice, this is where you come. It’s either Burnside or here,” Danielle says.

“Women are our target market, a broad range of women, but they are our target market, and they come and shop at Burnside and they come and shop here [in Norwood] on purpose, because this has got [what they’re looking for].”

Let The Eat’s beetroot salad is a winner

It’s important for the brand to have a consistent offering regardless of its location – whether in Norwood, Marion, Burnside, the Central Market Arcade, or at an event – and so the Norwood pop-up features the same range of fresh salads, lasagnes, quiches, baked goods and sweets.

“Our food is the centrepiece of what we do, and we’re trying to replicate that everywhere we go,” Danielle says.

“[If] you’re busy, you want to east something that tastes good, that you know is good, that you know where it comes from, that isn’t hugely processed, and this is the place they want to eat.”

Let Them Eat’s Norwood Place store is open seven days. And there are more new sites in the work, so stay tuned to the brand’s Facebook and Instagram for updates.

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