Manchester Chef is exceeding the limits of what a catering company can be.
Ngwafu Tansie on Sustainability, Community and Building a Business.
“Pumpkins are probably number one,” Ngwafu Tansie proudly holds up her hands to the side of her face, depicting the largest pumpkin she has grown, which is her favourite vegetable to grow on her allotment. At the start of her allotment journey, she managed to grow some lettuce, peas and radishes; now, three years on, she has quite an extraordinary pumpkin. Despite such an achievement, she still refers to herself as an “amateur” grower, with a lot more to learn to “keep the veggies alive”.
“If more people like us and our business come out and educate people around it, then it will build up peoples trust and skills around it."
Ngwafu Tansie holding home grown berries CREDIT: Haley Lawson-Tansie
Ngwafu Tansie holding home grown berries CREDIT: Haley Lawson-Tansie
Ngwafu Tansie is the founder and owner of GwafuVegan- a plant-based catering company serving West-African food. Her work contributes to something much bigger than just her business. Taking on a mission to ‘plug the gap’ across multiple sectors of society whilst keeping her services affordable and in some cases, completely free. All aspects of her business seem to be carefully thought out and her ability to analyse the market shines through her work that has a lasting impact within the community. Her services are available in and around Manchester, which is where she began her career studying Food Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Ngwafu teaching a cooking class CREDIT:In Our Nature
Ngwafu teaching a cooking class CREDIT:In Our Nature
She ensures that education is really at the forefront of GwafuVegan, making food education digestible, accessible and agenda free, as she feels this is not the case for the existing framework for food education in the UK. Especially in relation to the plant based as she says: “If more people like us and our business come out and educate people around it, then it will build up peoples trust and skills around it [plant-based diet]”.
Having taken time out of her busy day at GwafuVegan to talk to me, she reminisces on the early days of her catering business: “it was just creativity 101”. With her time focused on research and development, where research consisted of eating out to understand what she liked to bring the dream of GwafuVegan to life. For the business to grow, creativity had to be sacrificed for networking and social media in a world where success relies heavily on social media presence.
"We really want to try educate people people that that's not the case and they're not scary."
“I do have a hang of things now,” says Ngwafu, who seems to have cracked the code to social media, she found catering to her existing audience over the wider algorithm makes the process more enjoyable. Promoting her services dressed as a ghostbuster, veggies in hand, claiming she ‘ain’t afraid of no veg’. “We really want to try educate people that that’s the case and they’re not scary,” says Ngwafu who thinks one bad experience with flavourless veg is enough to put a person off the plant- based diet.
Ngwafu holing home grown veg CREDIT: Ngwafu Lawson-Tansie
Ngwafu holing home grown veg CREDIT: Ngwafu Lawson-Tansie
But when nurturing a business, navigating the cost-of-living crisis brings its challenges: “it’s hard to have your dream move or change but it’s also realising that that's part of the umbrella of sustainability”. Ngwafu had plans to open a restaurant, but with rising energy bills this would have posed a risk to the future of GwafuVegan: “I don’t want to force opening a place and then can’t keep it going because of money and I don’t want to not be available to people in any capacity”.
"I was miserable."
After leaving a corporate job behind in search of community, Ngwafu wanted to create a space for people to do the same. “I was miserable,” she says with a laugh. Luckily, she had a support system to make the jump easier. Experiencing both sides, she understands the importance of community whilst resonating with the struggle of those without it. I asked if anything had ever stuck with her when working in within the community: “That’s a tough question, I think to see how hard it is for people who don’t have access to things and seeing it from their perspective”, acknowledging the different factors at play in terms of accessibility has helped her adjust her approach and maximise the reach and impact of GwafuVegan within the community.
Even with a rich community in her new line of work, Ngwafu spends a lot of time isolated in prep kitchens in the day-to-day life at GwafuVegan. So, it came as a bit of a shock when she was nominated for the African Food awards as part of the Be Inclusive Hospitality awards 2025, sparking a moment of realisation of how far her work is reaching, “it gave me motivation to keep going”. Ngwafu is spreading the joy of West-African food; “It makes me feel seen as a person, as a Cameroonian. Yeh it’s great to put my cuisine out there”.
“It makes me feel seen as a person, as a Cameroonian. Yeh it’s great to put my cuisine out there."
Ngwafu explains how veganism is embedded into the lifestyle of Cameroon, unlike the UK: “it’s not a thing in terms in terms of the word, but it’s a thing in terms of sustainability”, where food production is localised and community based. “So going back to that type of system is what is needed, it’s not a dream, it’s what is needed in order to be sustainable” she says passionately as sourcing locally would reduce the need for mass food production in the UK, and the energy emissions that come with it: “how sustainable that would be is amazing”.
Ngwafu plans to continue her journey towards expert grower: “I want to have land somewhere, have a kitchen garden where we grow our produce at a larger scale than we do now". Carrying through her ethos of education and community collaboration by inviting people on site to come cook, grow and get involved in the many projects to come. Ngwafu initially struggled to think further into the future, but then she was filled with excitement: “10 years plan will ideally be making it bigger, having other people to come in and do it themselves, so it’s not just like a me thing."
Inside Manchester's Leading Community Garden Centre with Emily Edwins
Emily Edwins at Hulme Community Garden Centre CREDIT: Ayla Nike
Emily Edwins at Hulme Community Garden Centre CREDIT: Ayla Nike
Hulme Community Garden Centre (HCGC) is a society for the benefit of the people and a green hotspot for the local community. But who keeps it going? Emily Edwins is part of a small team where it’s all hands-on deck. She began her journey through their volunteer program, now she has been working there officially for a year as administrations and operations assistant- unofficially the problem solver. Over the years she has seen the centre grow into what it is today.
HCGC’s website says: 'garden centre with a difference that makes a difference'. How are you making a difference?
As we function at moment in 2026, we've got a variety of different programs, we run things like toddlers’ groups, home education, SEN groups for members of the community that's all centred around horticulture and access to green space. In 2019, we also opened up the garden centre for community shares ownerships- meaning that people that live within a certain distance from the garden centre could by £1 shares, so we have shareholders who are essentially the community.
Emily organising plants at the garden centre CREDIT: Ayla Nike
Emily organising plants at the garden centre CREDIT: Ayla Nike
How has the 2020/21 rebuild helped the outreach of the centre?
It was massive, it just gave us more storage, more capacity, nicer environments for us to function in. It's really enhanced what were able to do, what were able to offer, it's made it more desirable for people to come from further afield. Equally- I hate to say this- but things that look nice and look attractive and you can post nice pictures of on Instagram. It's a great way of getting people in through the door.
Have you seen the extent of the positive effects this place is having on the people who are involved?
We have some volunteers who are part of our program who have been volunteering here for 10, 15 years now. I think that speaks volumes about what this place provides for them. And that's lovely because it also means that you really see people develop and step into their own. Most of our staff that are here, even though were a small team, have come from being volunteers ourselves.
HCGC entrance CREDIT: Ayla Nike
HCGC entrance CREDIT: Ayla Nike
You provide a space for children and work with schools, why is it important to expose children to nature?
Let them not reach adulthood before realising that these things [nature] are highly beneficial to them, lets really engage them at a young age. I think about my childhood we were in the back garden like 'let’s make mudpies', it was like build a strong immune system, not scared of a bit of dirt and a few bugs. I think if you can make it exciting and interesting why would they not want to engage?
How do you manage funding all your different projects here?
I will be quite frank; money is never not a consideration here. But it's also why we have such a small staff team as well because as a garden centre we have two very successful seasons during the year and two very quiet ones, everything drops off in autumn and winter.
In what ways does the work here contribute to mitigating climate change?
We have a strict sustainability and environmental policy on site, we encourage recycling, we don’t buy new plastic for example. We actually don't buy very much new if we can avoid it. We reuse, we recycle, we discourage people as much as possible from bringing single use plastics on to site. One of our big income streams is venue hire, you know everyone from universities having meetings to kids’ parties and we have quite strict T&Cs, no balloons, no sequins.
Emily at HCGC CREDIT: Ayla Nike
Emily at HCGC CREDIT: Ayla Nike
