Team Toast 6 months in

Andrew

Andrew helped launch Toast ale and is working on expanding our model into the US. He loves the idea that we’re getting a whole new set of people – craft beer drinkers and beer aficionados in general – interested in environmental stewardship. Besides working for Toast, Andrew is also a project manager at Feedback managing a Change.org petition to standardise date labels to reduce food waste in the US, and co-manages the Ship of Adventures cafe in Dalston.

In his spare time, he home-brews with a brewing cooperative and recently brewed a batch using the Toast recipe, named “Crust” because it was on the fringes of the Toast movement. He’s also tried out brew-related upcycling – granola from spent grains (inspired by our friends at ReGrained) and bread using yeast leftover after fermentation.

Andrew also enjoys playing basketball, scuba-diving, and, above all, playing boardgames. We dare you to challenge him to a game of Scrabble!

Louisa

Louisa manages our social media and website, and looks after our bookkeeping.  She is also Tristram’s EA, which involves making projects like Toast ale a reality.  She put together all the cogs to get us ready for launch – liaising with bakeries and breweries, and pulling favours to get our beautiful label design done.

When not working for Toast or with Tristram, Louisa is mum to two little people. She’s teaching the next generation to value food – easier said than done with fussy toddlers. She is also a big fan of craft beer and is on a self-made mission to try all of London’s amazing ales.

In her spare time, she enjoys yoga and discovering new places in nature. She also loves dance and was part of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony – so we could say we have our own Olympian!

Julie

Julie is our head Toaster and manages everything from bread sourcing to brewery collaborations and stockists relationships. She’s passionate about great food and drink that does good, so is using her experience with food and drink retailers to get everyone thinking about addressing the food waste problem – by drinking it.

Julie is the only full-time member of the team so she’s fully immersed in the wonderful world of craft beer. In her spare time, she enjoys good times with friends and family and exploring what the world has to offer. This often also involves being immersed in craft beer. Her motto is ‘you only live once – seize it!’

Tristram

Tristram is the founder of Toast ale. Aptly, it was bread that first ignited his lifetime mission to fight food waste when he was just 15 years old. He was raising pigs on his family farm, feeding them leftovers from his school canteen and local food stores. He realised that the surplus bread from his local bakery was perfectly fresh and so he sat down with his pigs and enjoyed a meal with them. When he later discovered that bread could be used to brew really good beer, he recognised that it was symbolic of the delicious, simple alternative to wasting food – eating (and drinking) it!

Tristram also founded Feedback, the charity we support. It’s an environmental organisation campaigning to end food waste at every level of the food system.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending quality time with friends and family. On most occasions, food is central, whether he’s harvesting honey or fruit and veg from his garden, or cooking roadkill deer for Feedback‘s team christmas dinner. We never pass up on the opportunity to enjoy food with him!

Lieke

Lieke is our Digital Mum – a social media manager in training with Digital Mums. As part of her intensive but hugely successful real-life learning experience, she’ll be managing our social media accounts over the summer.

Alongside her training, she is busy balancing work and parenthood. We’re very impressed by her super-mum efficiency and multi-tasking skills. She’s a marketing specialist having worked in product design, branding and retail, and committed to positive social and environmental change. She says being assigned to Toast was the perfect match for her, and we feel very lucky to have her join the team too.

In her spare time, Lieke enjoys Pilates and visiting the many art exhibitions the capital has to offer. At the weekend she likes to be in her local area – Hackney (we’re super happy to have a local mum too!) – with friends and family, nosing around the many markets and enjoying a craft beer or two! We’re raising a Toast to you Lieke, Proost!