We caught up with Rachel Everett, the founder of L’Altre Vi, to find out what the business entails, the vision behind it, and the importance of purposeful businesses in today’s world.
What is the vision behind L’Altre Vi?
Our vision is to link the two sides of our heritage; we live in England and have our family roots in Catalonia.
We want to enable people to connect directly with producers, who are just ordinary people trying to make a living like everybody else whilst making their own patch of the planet that much better. We also aim to connect people with similar visions about how food should be produced and how business should be done. For instance, the East Oxford market has an ethical, organic ethos to it, and the wineries that we work with produce their wine sustainably.
Thus, we follow a collaborative and sustainable model of doing business. We aim to connect like minded people at both ends of the supply chain.
What was the inspiration for L’Altre Vi?
Since the age of 14, I’ve wanted to be a winemaker. My Catalonian grandfather was a farmer and so I grew up around wine fermentation, it was just part of life. Catalonia has been making wine for 2000 years, so they know what they are doing. I wanted to share this unique wine with the UK.
Why is purposeful business so important?
People want more connection with reality and want that contact with real producers. I think purposeful business is the way forward. People crave the personal and human side of business.
Additionally, we are at the point where we can no longer afford to continue trashing the planet and just take resources without thinking about the future.
Plus, it is more satisfying to be part of a positive way of doing things. At no point in our supply chain is anyone being exploited or exploiting others.
How did L’Altre Vi cope with the pandemic and adapt to new circumstances?
Interestingly, when the pandemic started, we had in our heads that we would be wholesalers, supplying restaurants. However, when lockdown started, the hospitality industry suffered terribly. We always had a web shop but it began to take off. So we’ve changed from being a primary wholesaler to now a primary retailer. Everything is constantly evolving so we too have changed.
How important is the idea of community?
Community is essential. One of the joys of being able to network is the personal contact. That is one of the things that has emerged from the pandemic; we are social animals and need each other for our health.
Our whole ethos is to connect with people in a positive way, and it is really important that we commit to contributing to that.
What is running a business in Oxford like?
Oxford is a great place to be based as there is so much interest in our business. We have a lot of university and international customers. People are more open-minded and prepared to try something new.
How has the eScalate programme helped your business?
Being part of the Food and Drink Peer to Peer programme has really helped me to think through and reassess the next step in our growth as a business. It also helped to clarify my thinking on how we position ourselves post-Brexit given new regulations around the marketing of organic products. On an immediately practical note I’ve been able to collaborate with another business, so we can both re-use packaging which would otherwise have to be recycled. Plus of course, it was great fun to meet other like-minded business owners and chew over problems and challenges common to us all.
What does L’Altre Vi have planned for the future?
Currently we are a mighty two-person business. However, I aspire in the future to be an employer who can give people who have experienced difficulties an extra chance and a bit of help.
Our thanks to University of Oxford student, Kush Patel for collecting and writing this case study for OSEP.
