The past, present and future of Oowee as it prepares to open two vegan London restaurants

There are plenty of fantastic restaurants in Bristol, a number of which received accolades worth celebrating in 2019.

But few, if any, have had as many reasons to be cheerful as Oowee.

After launching their first restaurant on Picton Street in 2016, the dirty burger specialists now have three sites to their name, after following up the small Montpelier eatery with further openings on North Street and Baldwin Street.

The brains behind Ooowee, Verity Foss and Charlie Watson, surprised a few people when they announced their third restaurant, which opened on Baldwin Street in November 2018, would be completely vegan.

But the couple's decision proved to be an inspired one, as it is this restaurant which has really gone on to define the brand.

This year Oowee Vegan earned not one, not two but three awards in the space of just two weeks, including Restaurant of the Year at the inaugural Deliveroo Restaurant Awards and Best Vegan Food at Bristol Loves.

Using that hat-trick of awards as a springboard, Verity and Charlie are now on the brink of opening two new restaurants in London early in 2020.

Below covers the past, present and future of Oowee as the Bristol brand prepares for UK expansion.

The birth of Oowee

Oowee started out as Oowee Puddings, a sugary pop-up serving at The Pipe and Slippers on Cheltenham Road.

It didn't do terribly and garnered some interest, but didn't reach the level which would have allowed Verity and Charlie to go full time.

"The pudding club was doing alright but not quite well enough for us to live off," said Verity, 29.

"We wanted to take things up a notch and then had the crazy idea of running a takeaway. We asked around to see if anyone knew of a site we could take on.

"After trying quite a few places with no luck I went to the takeaway pretty much next door to my flat on Picton Street and amazingly the owner said he was about to sell.

"It all moved very quickly and six months later it was ours, which was pretty surreal."

While both Charlie and Verity had a passion for food, their experience in the restaurant industry was somewhat limited and it would be fair to say their Picton Street restaurant was a baptism of fire.

"It was an absolute shambles when we opened to be quite honest," said Charlie, also 29. "Lots of things went wrong and it was a very steep learning curve.

"Thankfully because it's such a small space it meant we were able to rectify the issues swiftly, and we adapted to each bit of negative feedback we received from customers to make sure we improved."

Move to North Street

Having made a name for themselves as dirty burger specialists in Montpelier - following a rather chaotic launch - Verity and Charlie didn't hang about.

Just six months after opening their first restaurant they were picking up the keys to their second on North Street, Bedminster.

It's much bigger than Oowee's first restaurant which meant there was scope for more things to go wrong at its highly-anticipated launch - and they did.

With a queue of people outside the restaurant eager to sample Oowee's raved about creations the most vital equipment, including the fryers, gave up the ghost, rendering everything off the menu.

"It was a proper calamity," said Verity. "There were loads of customers who had waited so long for their food and they were livid.

"Most people who open a restaurant have worked in the industry in some way beforehand but we never have, so we were basically learning from our own intuition."

Charlie added the couple were "kind of just going along with it," for a while at Picton Street and North Street but over time they have developed proper systems and processes, which made opening Oowee Vegan a breeze...

Decision to go vegan

In November 2018, the pair opened their most successful restaurant to date: Oowee Vegan.

Not only has it earned rave reviews from diners far and wide, including meat eaters, but in October it won its aforementioned hat-trick of awards.

There were a number of reasons behind the decision to go vegan, said Verity.

"The vegan menu at Picton Street was really popular, which showed us that the market for a standalone vegan restaurant was there," said Verity.

"But more importantly, we wouldn't have felt comfortable growing a big company which was responsible for the death of thousands of animals.

"We thought it would have been selfish to do that when a company which doesn't involve meat can be just as as successful, and food which doesn't include meat can be just as delicious."

Charlie and Verity followed this belief through when they converted their inaugural restaurant on Picton Street into a vegan kebab shop in July this year - a move which has gone down well.

Charlie added: "I think chains which serve a lot of red meat will struggle further down the line as people become more conscious of what they eat.

"If you can make food taste just as good without relying on using red meat then you're onto a winner - and we want to be the biggest vegan fast food chain in the UK."

The couple said every future restaurant they open from now on will be vegan.

2020: Expansion outside Bristol

Early next year Oowee will open two vegan restaurants in London, with one in the east of the capital and the other in the south.

Charlie and Verity said they have saved every penny over the past year to make the expansion possible and have called on the services of professional designers to make their first sites outside Bristol look as good as possible.

They said they are keen to avoid the chain seeming too corporate and both London restaurants will therefore have the same 'relaxed Oowee feel' found in Bristol, with a soundtrack which pays homage to the city in which Oowee was born.

"Opening in London is going to be a completely different kettle of fish but we're really excited about it," said Verity.

"We're super keen to grow Oowee Vegan into a chain across the UK and we want to be ahead of the game, but we're going to make sure we get it right at our two London restaurants.

Charlie added: "We've always had big ambitions and we want to become a big name in London, before looking to open in other cities across the UK.

"Oowee is our life and we want to go as big with it as we can."

Verity said they will keep the same Oowee philosophy at their two new London restaurants, and the couple will always keep control of the brand.

"We know that if we brought an investor in they'd want to make the portions smaller in order to save money, but that's not what Oowee is about," she added. "Oowee is about portions which are almost over the top without having to pay too much."

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