From Hackney To Everywhere: Our Story
Who are Biff’s? Well, something that tastes this good didn’t happen overnight, but here’s how we came to be. And spoiler alert: it’s quite the ride…
2000-2017: From McDonalds to #VeganAF
In the year 2000, our co-founder, Biff, got his first job at McDonald’s and realised he frickin’ LOVED burgers. This was all fine and very meat-y, until, many years later Biff met long-term vegan Christa. Driven by a desire to do better for animals, people and planet, by 2016 Biff had made the jump to a fully vegan diet.
Except, after eating a fair few bean patties that would never inspire anyone to ditch meat, Biff realised that if he wanted to replicate the tastes, textures and downright messy food he was craving, he’d need to make it himself. He used his burger-constructing skills to make a better meat-free alternative that wasn’t just averagely vegan, but totally Vegan AF.
Crispy Jackfruit™ was born.
And, in May 2017, Biff and Christa ditched their jobs, bought a van instead of a house, and started a street food stall called Biff’s Jack Shack.
2018-2019:One Wing To Rule Them All
Within a few months our Jack Shack had a scarily-dedicated cult following across London’s food markets, and we’d toured the UK’s biggest festivals, from Latitude and BST to Glastonbury. By 2019 we’d opened our first permanent location in Shoreditch’s Boxpark, and a second, the world’s only fully-vegan BrewDog bar, Biff’s x BrewDog Dalston, in collaboration with the brewery.
Along the way we got invited on to some of the UK’s biggest TV shows, and landed crazy reviews from Time Out, GQ and The Guardian, and everyone was talking about about one thing: Crispy Jackfruit Wings.
In fact, our chicken-style wing with a sugarcane bone got so popular that we decided it was time to take on real chicken: we hosted the World’s First Vegan Chicken Wing Eating Competition for charity, and become the only vegan brand to dare to sell wings at Wing Fest, converting a LOT of vegan-skeptics along the way.
2020-2021:Bringing Jackfruit to Everyone
In late 2019, with our new CEO, Andy, at our side, we moved Crispy Jackfruit production from our Hackney warehouse to the place where our fave fruit grows –Vietnam. This allowed us to work with fresh jackfruit (and we’re still the only UK company to do so!) and massively ramp up the amount of stock we could make – meaning we could start to make Burgers and Wings more available to everyone.
We pivoted into Food Delivery during the pandemic, setting up almost 50 Biff’s Delivery kitchens to bring our signature comfort food to homes across the UK. By late 2022 Biff’s became the largest vegan delivery brand in Europe, and our Father Jack burger was one of the most-ordered vegan dishes on Deliveroo.
As the world started opening up in 2021 Crispy Jackfruit appeared on hundreds, then thousands, of other people’s menus too – with our products becoming vegan heroes in restaurants and pubs including Frankie & Benny’s and Greene King.
But we never forgot about our ethical routes – and in March 2021 we almost broke the internet with our Bimini Bon Burger – a charity burger in collaboration with drag icon Bimini, which raised almost £3,000 for Not A Phase, a London-based charity supporting Trans+ adults.
2022: From The Streets To The Shelves
In April 2022 we finally headed to the supermarket with our Biff’s Plant Shack range, which launched in Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
Driven, as always, to make vibrant, exciting plant-based food to accessible to as many people as possible, we created the range to including our iconic Crispy Jackfruit products, restaurant-favourite sauces and deliciously indulgent loaded fries. And, in September 2022 we took our accessibility even further, becoming the first UK vegan brand to add airfryer cooking instructions to our packs.
Seeing Biff’s in Supermarkets didn’t exactly please everyone though – renowned vegan expert Piers Morgan weighed in with an interesting rant feature on our sugarcane ‘bone’.
Still, that’s not gonna stop of us from continuing on our mission: to make plants taste out of this world, so we can stay in it and to always be #VeganAF.
