Cutting the Mustard.

We sat down and had a chat with the lovely Sean from The StreetBaller and Mustard. about how he got into the world of meatballs and most recently, burgers and two big things came up; 1. Community and 2. Helping your fellow traders matters.

Sean wanted to do something where he had the freedom to help others, he wanted a platform to do good. He wasn’t happy at work and so hatched a plan to get into food with the long-term goal of being able to support charities and organisations that do good.

It’s been a year since Sean started out and he’s put a lot into developing his business. Let’s first look at The StreetBaller, no one else was doing meatballs, Sean said and so we weren’t in direct competition with anyone, maybe that’s why other traders were receptive to me and wanted to help, he added. Over a very busy 12 months, Sean has gone through R&D, has worked a summer season, done a bit more R&D, has established relationships with some of the best in the business and has opened a second brand.

There are many people Sean has to thank in his first year of trading, but we’ll start with Bruce from Brum Mi, ‘because of the support I got from Bruce originally 98/100 things he told me worked and based on that I didn’t really make any huge mistakes and because he worked my soft launch with me I learnt from best.’

Sean went on to say that It’s difficult to go wrong when you’ve got so many good people backing you up, Tom from Stripclub streetfood, Ben from Le Petit Bois and Andy from South Birmingham Curry Club were also key to getting The StreetBaller going. As well as this, NCASS helped a lot, ‘from the EH specialist Fiona to the account management team who I can speak to whenever I need to and I also had loads of support from Mark and Alan’.

This year in March and after a year of learning the ropes with The StreetBaller which included highlights such as a flooded-out gazebo in Western Super Mare (which the team now use as a benchmark for nightmare jobs), Sean launched Mustard. – exactly a year after he started up with The StreetBaller. The ethos of Mustard. is ‘a nostalgic look back at those summer days in your garden when your dad brought out the BBQ and cooked fat patties for everyone. Smashed burgers have been the buzzword over the last 5 years; we want to take burgers back to their nostalgic roots taking inspiration old school burgers – it’s all about simple flavours done well.’

Mustard. was thoroughly tried and tested, The Darkhorse let Sean use their kitchen to develop his recipes, other traders came and helped me choose the meat, established traders including Joe from 6ix sub who helped out with ideas and Andy from South Birmingham Curry Club who brought everything together with his graphic design expertise.

With a menu developed and a strong brand in place, Mustard. was good to go and is currently doing a 3-month residency in and take away from a local pub. Both brands are busy until the end of the summer now between the pub, residencies in breweries, rural pubs that Sean can bring something different to, as well as markets, festivals and events of course.

Before The StreetBaller and Mustard. Sean had never worked in hospitality and the thing that stands out for him now that he does is the people, the community of businesses who have and continue to be very kind and helpful. Although he works 7 days a week, Sean tells me that it

never feels like work, he gets to travel up and down the country, to be customer facing and give a brilliant experience, to know wonderful people and work alongside businesses such as Bustler Market who ‘are a joy to work with’.

We talk about the independent hospitality sector and Sean tells me just how important he feels they are, ‘the only way you can improve local lives is by investing in the local economy’ and when I ask about his favourite indies he rolls of a long list that includes The Juke, Couch, Stir Stores, Pause, Chakana for their sea bream ceviche, Tropea for their squid ink risotto, The Anchor, Kilder, Tilt and Eat Vietnam.

Like most people in the sector right now, we discuss what changes Sean would like to see. Sean would like to see the VAT threshold change and for there to be a wider VAT spectrum, ‘if you’re a small independent you shouldn’t be paying as much as bigger businesses…the cost of food has gone through the roof, there is someone making a lot of money somewhere from it while we’re all losing out- why does inflation only go one way? You never see spikes reduced at a comparative rate’

I would also like to see a reduction in pitch fees for traders and a fairer playing field across the board when it comes to festivals: ‘small festivals are not able to compete with Live Nation and are going under – they’ve got the monopoly and that needs to change. Small festivals and events that are independently run are full of people coming together for a common purpose and they put money back into the gig economy. When a massive conglomerate comes in, they just make it about money. I didn’t get into food to be a millionaire, I wated to get into something that would make me happy and make others happy’.

When I ask who Sean most loves and respects in the industry and he replies that there are too many to mention as so many people have helped him but right now, ‘anyone who has decided to try and make a hospitality business work in this climate’, he says, ‘the fact that we all go out and do this every day, we keep smiling and keep giving customers a good experience is 100% something that deserves a pat on the back.’

Let’s keep backing people like Sean and help them continue to succeed. We’re part of a community that is full of wonderful, creative, supportive people and that’s definitely something to be proud of.

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