A DAY before opening in the town centre, Shakers Dairy Free already had more than 500 Facebook likes.

Diners with alternative food habits, dictated by preference or genetics, were excited to eat somewhere they could eliminate the guesswork.

This Fifties-style American milkshake and ice cream diner is 100 per cent dairy-free and vegan while catering to customers who sometimes like their sarnies simple without the “weird and wonderful”, co-owner Alex Coulter said.

She said: “When you buy food to take away from a typical shop, as a vegan they expect you to love all these weird and wonderful concoctions, which I do.

“I love falafel and every kind of vegetable there is, but a lot of people don’t, and just want a basic cheese and ham sandwich, or cheese and pickle.

“I’m making the good old basics which are affordable.

“I love weird and wonderful but sometimes I want that thing I was used to as a child because I wasn’t vegetarian or vegan growing up.

“I loved ham and cheese, and egg mayonnaise sandwiches was one of my staples going to school so I want to have the same things but ‘veganised’.”

Alex and husband Kevin are going it alone in this promising venture in Eld Lane, above Just Essentials and London Camera Exchange.

Opening a restaurant was Kevin’s dream.

He envisaged it being called Watson’s after animal rights advocate Donald Watson, who coined the word vegan and founded the Vegan Society.

As parents to four children, aged 16, 14, 12 and eight, their focus is just as much on feeding the masses as it is educating the future generation to make more ethical and healthier food choices.

In a bid to help the environment, all of Shakers Dairy Free’s packaging is also fully compostable.

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She said: “Although our children are vegan at home, they’re vegetarian when they go out purely because there’s no real alternative for them and if there is, it’s too expensive.

“Children don’t care if something is made from dairy or not, as long as it tastes good and it’s affordable, they will buy it.

“They’re not judgemental like a lot of us adults who if you put the word vegan in front of, puts them off which is why we’ve not done it.

“Lots of people are dairy free just because lactose doesn’t agree with them, or they don’t like it, or they’re health conscious.

“Even if they’re meat eaters or have an actual intolerance, or choose it as a lifestyle, it’s far more acceptable to be dairy-free than the V word.”

By her own admission, this pair are “taking on the big guys” - the chain restaurants Colchester is becoming increasingly popular for which charge a premium for non-dairy, and the brands who care less about animals and the environment.

The solution is the Ethical Emporium - Colchester’s first vegan independent co-operative.

The supermarket will have everything from food, health and beauty products, clothing including a vegan shoe range coming this autumn, and Little Acorn Art run by a ten-year-old vegan artist.

Not only is this a way for small companies and sole traders to get themselves seen but to introduce brands to the marketplace.

Alex said: “Most traders I know are struggling. Nobody is making any real money but they’re passionate about what they’re doing so I thought it would be ideal if we could bring back the idea of shopping local and independent.

“Outside of Colchester there’s GreenBay in London and the Little Shop of Vegans in Norwich, but GreenBay, for example, sell big multi-corp products like Unilever which we won’t.

“I don’t want anything you can get from Sainsbury’s or Waitrose in our shop.

“It’s not only got to be vegan but has to be ethical.”

While the Ethical Emporium opens soon, Shakers Dairy Free is open from 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am until 4pm on Sundays during the summer only.

For more information, click here and here for the Ethical Emporium.