Case in point: Soyoyoy. James’ tofu and tempeh business had humble beginnings in his home kitchen. “I got really into making tofu and tempeh at home and then some friends who owned a café in North Hobart asked me to start supplying to them. One of their regular diners owns three Japanese restaurants and they started using our tofu, too, which was really flattering.” When he set up a stall at Farm Gate Market in Hobart in 2018, “I started making tofu commercially and now it’s a seven-day-a-week business. Well, it’s not even a business; it’s a lifestyle.”
Truth be told, it’s both. Back in 2018, he was selling 30-odd blocks of tofu at the markets and not breaking even after adding up the cost of ingredients, production, travel and the market site. In the five years since, Soyoyoy has expanded on its signature tofu and tempeh range to include soy milk and plant-based cheeses UnFeta’d and Brie’zy. As well as selling at Farm Gate Market in Hobart each Sunday, James and “chief cheese mistress” Loz are now seeing their products stocked in local supermarkets and independent stores, including Salamanca Fresh and Hill St Grocer. Last year, Soyoyoy took out four gold and two silver medals at the Royal Tasmanian Fine Food Awards. “We’ve kept our product range really tight because we haven’t had the business structure, infrastructure, finance or time to do more,” says James, who invested $80,000 in a “proper” tofu machine a year ago. “There wasn’t anyone else making tofu down here in Tasmania so there was an opportunity. We decided if we were going to do it, we would need to be in boots and all.”