Amy Gastman left her career as a journalist at Waitrose food magazine to build one of London’s most loved vegan cookie brands.She is the founder of Eat by Amy and Crumb and in this episode of Let’s Have Drinks, she shares the honest reality of starting and scaling a food business in London.

From the early days of making vegan meal prep to the long road to profitability. We talk about what it really takes to find your thing, grow a brand, hire a team and build a sustainable business in a competitive market. Amy also shares lessons from her journey as a founder, including how long success actually takes and how social media helped grow her brand.

Today pour: Chin Chin Vinho Verde - Quinta do Ermizio & soda water

In this episode we discuss:

• Grappling with mixed racial identity

• Getting into food

• Starting Eat by Amy as a vegan meal prep service

• Pivoting and challenges of scaling a food business

• Dealing with men in business

• The long road to profitability as a founder

• Hiring a team and growing a company

• The role of social media in growing a brand

• Lessons for entrepreneurs starting a business

About the podcast:

Let’s Have Drinks is a podcast where we sit down over a drink and have honest conversations about careers, creativity, ambition, and the messy journeys behind building a life.

Welcome back to Let’s Have Drinks.

This is our first ever solo episode and we're diving into what the past few months have really looked like.

In this episode, I talk about trying to rediscover wonder, about feeling like a loser at time, about realising I’d disconnected from the things that once made me feel alive and the challenge that forced me to sit with myself and figure out who I’m actually becoming.

It’s an honest conversation about adulthood, ambition, identity, and what happens when you feel slightly off-track.

So grab your drink and settle in as we unpack how to reconnect with the parts of ourselves we’ve slowly drifted away from.

Today’s pour: a lime mojito mocktail.

Chapters

00:00:00 - intro
00:01:44 - how Let's Have Drinks started
00:03:03 - what happened in July (eurosummer)
00:07:18 - the conversation on the train
00:08:59 - 90 day challenge
00:14:59 - the Fuji listening party
00:20:28 - Morocco in December
00:21:58 - the slow death of wonder
00:24:55 - no goals 2026!
00:28:30 - bye!

You can leave feedback, share a dilemma you want unpacked, or even nominate a guest for the show here: https://tally.so/r/npZ1NJ

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, or share with a friend who’s been feeling stuck or unseen lately.

Why do we keep creating when the views are low and no one seems to be watching?
In this episode of Let’s Have Drinks, I’m joined by the ever-brilliant Nuella Love for a Strawberry Mojito Mocktail and a heart-to-heart on staying consistent, feeling behind in life, and navigating the highs and (very low) lows of showing up online.

We talk about:🍓 Creating content with purpose, not popularity🍓 YouTube burnout + what growth actually looks like🍓 Solo travel as a woman🍓 The weird limbo between childhood and adulthood🍓 And why some things are still worth doing — even without applause.

✨ Find Nuella Love here:

https://www.instagram.com/nuellalove_/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Nuellalove/

Connect with the pod:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letshavedrinkspod/

Ready to sip on some truth? 🍹 This episode is serving up a full pour of knowledge with Gbemi Giwa—restaurateur turned fat-loss coach. We’re busting myths, spilling the tea on weight loss, and chatting about how you can enjoy your faves (hello, jollof rice!) and still reach your goals.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

🍛 Can you really eat African food and still lose weight?💥 The fat loss myths you need to stop drinking🚀 How Gbemi made the shift from running restaurants to coaching fat loss🙅🏾‍♀️ Why diet culture isn’t the answer🍹 The truth about sustainable fat loss (spoiler: it's not what you think!)

Pour yourself a drink and let’s get into it! 🎧

What do you do when you’re stuck studying something you hate? How do you keep pushing after rejection?

Ona Akinde has the answers. This episode, we sip on Blackberry Blueberry Virgin Martinis as Ona spills on sisterhood, storytelling, and securing a fully funded MFA after countless rejections.

Grab a drink, this one’s a gem!

What happens when you stop following the ‘safe’ path and start listening to something bigger—like God, or maybe just your gut? 🤔 In this episode, we sip on White Peach & Mango Daiquiris with Adenike Raks Sheriff as she spills on dropping out, co-founding a VC, and hitting milestones that actually matter. From navigating uncertainty to hearing God’s voice (and knowing when to pivot), we’re getting into all of it. Grab a drink and tune in!

First published on Youtube: July 30, 2024

On today’s episode, we’re cracking open a Desperados with Fisayo Olumekun as she spills on why she ditched the UK for Nigeria. We get into the real tea on relocating, the not-so-glamorous side of living abroad, and how to survive life’s ‘what now?’ moments. Uncertainty? Chaos? Wins? We’re sipping through it all. Grab a drink and enjoy!

First published on Youtube: Apr 18, 2023