In this Season 2 episode of the Jennifer Zee Plant-based & Happy Podcast, I had the lovely opportunity to chat with Margaret Coons - Founder and CEO, or “The Big Cheese” .

Food preparation and production has been a long-time passion for Margaret. A vegetarian since the age of 12 and vegan since the age of 19, creating delicious alternatives to more conventionally available food products was a hobby that turned into a career. She didn’t grow up in a vegetarian family, so, she began to cook for herself at a pretty young age and became interested in making vegetarian and vegan dishes. Working as a chef in a vegan restaurant, Margaret spent many late nights in the kitchen creating cashew-based vegan cheeses. In 2015 she decided to try her hand at a local farmers’ market booth with the vegan cheeses she had been making for a couple of years. This was when the young chef-turned-entrepreneur combined her passion for food and the art of culinary experiences with her commitment to her dietary choices to create Nuts for Cheese. Just as she started the booth at the farmers’ market, when demand began to soar and retail requests came in, the business took off from there. Nuts For Cheese is now available in 1000 stores across Canada!

In this episode Margaret and I chat about:
➤ Choosing to be vegan (and sticking to it) even when family and friends are not.
➤ Why vegetables may taste better now than when you were a kid.   
➤ Turning your hobby into a career.
➤ Growth in the plant-based sector.
➤ How today's vegan cheeses are leaving customers with zero reasons to eat traditional cheese.
➤ Challenges and how to overcome them as a plant-based entrepreneur.
➤ Keys to being a success a an entrepreneur.
➤ Why you should spend more time on doing the things that you love.

RESOURCES:

Nuts for Cheese Website: https://nutsforcheese.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nutsforcheese/

For more plant-based inspiration, coaching, education and yoga, visit: https://jenniferzee.com/AND Learn from 20 world-renowned experts with my plant-based online summit: https://plantbasedmasterysummit.com