‘We can’t stop, that’s the thing.’ Though grinning broadly from beneath his hairnet, Dave Knibbs is frazzled, fighting against the clock. We’re still stood in his factory office sipping a cuppa before hitting the factory floor, but the managing director of Tofoo hasn’t bothered removing his hairnet or overalls. No point asking him if he’s hands on. The outfit, streaked with crushed soy beans, speaks for itself. ‘Last week we did an overnight shift, just to help meet the orders,’ his wife and business partner tells us. Veganuary might be over and the first signs of spring are in the air (and spring lamb in the shops) but demand for the Knibbs’ brand of tofu continues apace.
Their orders have grown exponentially. The number of staff has tripled. From a thirty-year-old cottage industry run in an ex-bakery by an ‘old-school hippy’, Ron, Lydia and David Knibbs have turned Clearspot (as it was previously known) into a business supplying major supermarkets as well as whole food stores. They’ve rebranded; selling their tofu not so much on its nutritional or ethical value but for its flavour and versatility. ‘Tofoo’s not the soggy, tasteless stuff you might be thinking of, and we’re on a mission to show the world that tofu is really rather brilliant’ runs their mission statement – and while initially thrown by the snazzy, modern, carefully marketed tone of their website, the authenticity of their claim becomes apparent the moment we step out onto the factory floor.
‘The secret traditional Japanese recipe Ron was using – we’re still following that,’ says David. The battered copy of the Book of Tofu Ron followed religiously was the template for their factory floor. ‘This was handmade tofu when we bought it, and we want it to remain handmade. We’ve just upscaled.’ At the entrance, huge sacks of organic soy beans, imported only from those countries where soy bean agriculture does not threaten rainforest areas, wait to become tofu. Holding one in my hand, it’s hard to believe these little, lentil-like numbers are the world’s most popular alternatives to meat.