A lot of Summer Love for Lovebox 2014!

We’ve just about recovered from what was an amazing weekend in London for Lovebox 2014! The sweltering heat, the gorgeous back drop of Victoria park and our lovely new customers made for a fast, foodie and fun-filled festival.

Our first customer was legendary London event planner Sara Blonstein who opted for the Kickin’ Katie Nacho Dog and got us off to a great start on Friday! We were also visited by Elle Magazine, Stylist magazine and we had a lovely chat with Women’s Health who were on the lookout for festival food with a healthier spin.

The line-up was incredible, and we loved hearing from Katy B, Chase & Status, ASAP Rocky, Breach and enjoyed an escape from our lovely veggie van to have a final dance to M.I.A which brought Lovebox 2014 to a close – we can’t wait to see you next year already!

As usual we loved taking #sausageselfies of our customers – we can’t wait to share them with you all on social media in the next few weeks.

Our favourite moment this week has to be some of our favourite customers from Wakestock having a go at recreating The Original Frank in the sunshine – well done guys!

Thank you to everyone who tried a Not Dog last weekend, the feedback has been so exciting! Next stop for Not Dogs? Boardmasters 2014 – sun, sea, surf and veggie hot dogs :)

Katie x

Not Dogs Summer Tour: Wakestock

Us and our Not Dogs food truck have just got back from another festival; the festival of the sea, Wakestock, mixing the best in music and wakeboarding from around the world in the beautiful setting of Abersoch, North Wales. The festival was an amazing experience and we had so much fun meeting lots of interesting characters and we were happy when we converted a few to our meat-free hot dogs!

Although we couldn't leave our bright purple trailer much we enjoyed listening to music from Tom O'Dell, Chloe Howl, Razorlight, Ella Eyre and John Newman as we were perfectly positioned next to the Main Stage.

One of our favourite stages was the Huw Puw Stage which saw local acts perform and it was beautiful to listen to them all in the sunshine. We were even lucky enough to serve Alys Williams and Ellie Makes Music a not dog - both such lovely people!

Wakestock we had a ball... now it's all go for Lovebox in London!

Goodbye Godiva 2014 from Not Dogs!

What a weekend Godiva 2014 was, one of the best free festivals in the country and it definitely lived up to expectations for us and our brand new vegetarian food truck Not Dogs!

Not even the rain on Friday could dampen spirits as we set up and prepared to start topping our meaty and mighty hot dogs without the meat, and our very first customer? Only Anthony Harty from the legendary two-tone band The Selecter! Following an interview with BBC Coventry & Warwickshire all about the Not Dogs journey so far, we had lots of customers trying their very first Not Dog, with Kickin’ Katie Nacho Dog prevailing as the most popular on day one.

Day two saw the sun shine once again, and nothing could have prepared us for the onslaught of amazing customers we had throughout the day! Feedback was amazing with some visitors munching a Not Dog for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We barely looked up from our little trailer kitchen all day we were so busy, but by the end of the night we were visited by the New York-based indie rock band We Are Scientists who joined all our other customers in taking a #SausageSelfie. The Original Frank topped the most wanted list and the best feedback of the day… “Please can you start selling these online?!”

Day Three began with sunshine and a repeat customer in Anthony Harty who wanted to try the Top O’ The Mornin’ Dog for breakfast, followed by lots of families and little ones sharing not dogs – they are quite filling! Our stickers went down a treat, and we had lots of meat-eaters and veggies enjoying our Hello Houmous special too!

Day three ended with Katie falling over in a lot of ‘questionable mud’ while pushing our little trailer back into it's temporary home for the summer…

The real purpose for this post is to say a huge thank you to all our family, friends and kind strangers who have helped us get this far, and given us a such a boost for the remaining festivals, Not Dogs: The Summer Tour continues….

Join us on Twitter @notdogsUK & Instagram where you can see all our festival fun & #sausageselfies!

Katie x

The Best Things in Life in July

We've been inspired by Red Magazine's Contributors column for twelve months now and looking back to this time last year Katie's best things in life were spinning, trying new food and A Beautiful Mess app and her holiday essentials; Red magazine (of course!), Women's Health and Zest. I shared my love for Jimmy's Iced Coffee, Happier app, Color Run training and P20 sun protector!

Here's to another happy year...

Katie

The best things in life...

Seeing Countdown Keeper users post their happy events on social media, it’s the best! We have just passed the 20,000 download mark and we’re currently working on a new update which will be available soon too. You can view it in the App Store 

I spent most of the last 3 months rehearsing for Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer at Highbury Theatre in Sutton Coldfield, it was the first time I had set eyes on this beautiful and historical theatre, and I can’t wait to be back to see the new season of performances! 

Since I was 18 I’ve been going to summer festivals with friends every year, but in all that time I never thought I’d be taking a vegetarian food truck on tour by 2014! I’m excited to be going back to Lovebox this year, and looking forward to all the fun at Boardmasters, Wakestock and Festival No 6 for the very first time!

The song that reminds me of summer is... 

Lucky Man by The Verve -  it reminds me of winding down at Glastonbury as the sun set on a beautiful Sunday evening in 2008, and now I end every run with that song as my cool down, it instantly makes me feel happy, grateful and at peace

From July 2013: The social media question I get asked the most is... 

Do we need a specialist to run our Facebook advertising? This usually happens when companies have been approached, and they don’t quite understand what they are being offered. We have seen Facebook advertising run seamlessly in-house, with a small budget and the use of the simple insights that Facebook provide as to what is working and what might need a tweak. The ads should run alongside and compliment content that’s already going out to the audience every day.  We’ve put together some top tips to help over on our blog

Jane

The best things in life...

Floor picnics! I'm slightly addicted to floor picnics at the moment! They have to be on the floor indoors due to the lovely, wet British weather but I still enjoy them all the same. A blanket filled with crisps and dips, Quorn sausage rolls and scotch eggs is my idea of food heaven!

Red Magazine - I've been a Red reader for years now and despite it being initially published for the older lady even in my late teens I loved it. Red has meaningful articles alongside beautiful imagery; I feel I learn so much every time I read an issue. It doesn't contain news stories on Z-list celebrities but features inspirational women on every cover. I make it a rule not to read the issue until the first of the month so this month I cannot wait to read all about Liv Tyler and her boho life, sunshine living and Red's top 10 beach reads!

Not Dogs - Slightly biased here but I'm already having so much fun sharing our new business Not Dogs with the world! We've already done one mini event and got such great feedback that I cannot wait to be on the road for the summer spreading the veggie sausage love! 

The song that reminds me of summer is...

Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool - some may say obvious but I don't care! It's an uplifting, catchy song that certainly makes me feel like a refreshing jump in turquoise waters! Love it!

From July 2013: The social media question I get asked the most is...

What's the next big platform? I think many brands are noticing that users are getting tired of Facebook and in a way Twitter and understand that they should be looking to the future platforms to include in their strategy. I completely agree on the Facebook front but we also advise clients to think about where their customers are... Instagram is growing and growing but it's younger people who are the most active, if your customers don't fit Instagram's current demographic there's no need to panic about being an early-adopter as a brand quite yet.