Support a family-owned mochi start-up

Aim

To bring handmade mochi to the heart of Portsmouth. To promote this vegan & gluten-free confectionary alternative from our independent shop.

I’m Leanne, the founder of Let’s Mochi, and mum to two young girls and a husband serving in the Royal Navy. Since we were established in late 2021 in Lincoln our mochi has been much loved and embraced by our local community. This has continued since we opened in Portsmouth in May 23, and we never expected to be so well received by our new community so quickly. Based on the demand there's been for our small home-based business, and taking on the advice of our lovely customers, we have decided to raise funds to expand. 

As a small start-up we can only offer a limited local delivery service so far, including with the help from the excellent Portsmouth e-bike start-up Coconuts Delivery. So, we now aim to have our own ‘Mobile Mochi Pod’ so we can bring our products closer to our community.

The money we raise will be used to buy a custom catering pod like the sketch and fit it with the equipment that we need to make it a mobile shop. With more support we hope to one day have our own premise where we can not only sell but also teach people how to make mochi.

So, what is Mochi? I hear you ask. It is a traditional Japanese delicacy made from rice flour with a sweet filling. It is very soft, chewy and dangerously delicious. Traditionally, it is made for special occasions such as New Year but has started to gain popularity in the UK. Being made from rice flour, it is naturally gluten free and vegan.

Our story

Making mochi started as an idea during the pandemic when we were based in Lincoln. It really stems from the love for Asian cuisine and travel that my husband and I share. We wanted to create an independent brand that is environmentally conscious, but which worked for my husband’s work and with myself being a mum to young children. Over the last two years I have taught myself to handmake mochi and perfected this though making at least couple thousand individual ones. Moving back to Portsmouth in May 23 due to my husband’s work, I now aim to bring Let’s Mochi’s to the heart of Portsmouth with our Mobile Mochi Pod. 

What makes our project different? 

Our project is unique. As far as we are aware, there aren’t many mobile mochi pods in the UK. Our project is a one-of-a-kind that adds to the culinary diversity of Portsmouth and the South Coast.

Our products are fresh and handmade. Mochi in the UK is mostly mass produced and found in UK supermarkets where they are frozen with ice-cream. Ours are freshly hand made without preservatives or additives, and roughly twice the size – like how it is traditionally enjoyed! By supporting us you will not only be supporting us to promote mochi as its best, but also contributing to Portsmouth’s independent business community.   

Our menu. Along with our mochi we also create specialty products such as mochi cake, mochi bites, vegan mochi ice cream and have our own selection of specialty teas and coffee. We are currently close to having a fully vegan menu and we plan to have our pod serve only vegan items. 

We are plastic free. All of our packaging is plastic free and recyclable. Being plastic free has been a significant challenge for us so far but we are proud to stick to our environmental principles that all the packaging we provide is plastic free and recyclable. As we continue to grow, we also aim to source our ingredients from local and plastic-free suppliers.

Ways to support us

We aim to continuously grow this project to bring this exciting new product to our customers while maintaining our sustainability principles. We can’t do this alone – you can help by sharing our campaign with friends, family or on social media.

If we meet our target we can also benefit from Portsmouth City Council's match funding for small businesses so every £1 you support us with will be matched by 50p from the council.

 Thank you for your support!

This project successfully funded on 16th November 2023