Meet some of the vendors behind one of Belfast's bustling street food markets.
Since lockdown, there's been a rise in people taking the plunge to start their own businesses, with many vendors at Common Market in Belfast using the time to turn their dreams into reality.
Now open for a year and a half, the market in Belfast city centre aims to offer something for everyone, and the vendors focus on supporting each other and creating their own community.
Read more: 12 best pubs in NI announced in Camra's Good Beer Guide
Last week, Common Market won Belfast Chamber's Business Award for Best New Business, a testament to the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to turn the old warehouse into something special.
Mark Craig is one of the owners behind two pop-ups in the market, Al Pastor and Hey Chick. Offering tacos and fried chicken respectively, he said both were inspired by a love of food and noticing a gap in the market.
He said the relaxed street food environment of Common Market and other similar venues, such as Trademarket, mean it can help businesses be more creative.
"We see ourselves as the next generation of hospitality," Mark told Belfast Live.
"A lot of us have come up through working in bars with each other. This is probably the lowest cost way to enter the food scene, which is great for people to start a new business.
"It's a really nice, relaxed street food environment. There's a lot of pressure on venues that have been around for a long time to not make too many changes and to serve the same kind of food, but all of us could change what we sell tomorrow, or put a special on and it's fine."
For Brendan O'Neill at Zeus, who specialise in making Greek gyros, it was a chance conversation while working at the bar next door that led to the pop-up beginning seven weeks ago. Since then, Brendan has been selling out each day.
He said what he loves most about coming in to work is that he knows he's surrounded by other vendors who are supportive.
"Being surrounded by the other vendors, I've worked with the guys involved with the guys involved with Hey Chick and Al Pastor for years, and I'm great friends with Shay from Smash Bros.
"I've known Conor that runs Lasa for years too," Brendan said.
"We just have laughs all day, it's always hilarious. It's a great environment. We're like one big family now.
"It's so much easier to come into work and know you're working with several stalls, instead of competing against several stalls.
"You never come in thinking everyone else is competition, because everyone's food is very different, and everyone does what they do very well. It's never seen as competition, everyone is always bigging each other up."
Elizabeth and Conor Brennan launched Lasa during lockdown, too, after a drunken night at home resulted in them creating batches of food from Elizabeth's native Philippines for family and friends to try.
A week later, the couple secured a restaurant venue in Comber which they operated from for two years. Six months ago, they first started pop-up service at Common Market and haven't looked back.
"We started here by doing a variation of what we did in the restaurant, but now we're going even further into street food. We're trying to combine the Belfast street food palate with authentic food from the Philippines," Conor said.
"Working in the market is great, we have all the other vendors to bounce off of and we're all united by the shared love of food. One of our main values is we always want to have fun.
"Fun and family is all part of what we do, and in here is like an extended family. It's been a great way for us to make our mark in Belfast.
"Markets like this are fuelling entrepreneurship in Belfast. The average age of people opening up is younger, all you need is a good idea and a work ethic.
"What I love about the market is it's giving people that chance to demonstrate what they want to do. Even to experiment and show people who they are. I think it's the future of food here.
"Coming somewhere like this means you and whoever you're with can try a wide range of different foods, enjoy the live entertainment, have a few drinks, and enjoy your time. We feel so lucky to be part of something like this."
One such example of coming up with a good idea and sticking to it comes from Shay Bannon at Smash Bros. One of the newest vendors at Common Market, Shay had been working in Belfast's bars for years, but a love of food and cooking had him wanting to set up his own place.
He said: "Myself and my business partner, Ciaran, were away on holiday and just spit-firing ideas one day, and decided we'd start up a burger stall.
"Belfast doesn't really have that many burger stalls, so we thought we could bring a really great burger to Belfast.
"Every week we're getting really amazing feedback, people are loving it, and it's amazing to have your own thing.
"It all just came together really quickly. There's so much time you can waste not doing something, but we're here now and we don't want to leave.
"It's such a community in here. All the vendors share with each other and are great mates, it's a good working environment. There's no competition or animosity, everyone wants everyone to be busy."
READ NEXT:
- Belfast Chinese restaurant reflect on serving the community for 40 years
- Belfast rooftop bar gets £1million revamp after devastating fire
- Titanic Pump-House to be revamped into working distillery and visitor attraction
- Award-winning barber investing in East Belfast with new restaurant
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
