how ave – absolute vegan empire (now known as velivery) – came into being
While the Latin word “Ave” – which means “be well!” or “farewell” – doesn’t actually have all that much to do with the following story about how Absolute Vegan Empire (AVE) was brought into being by founder Tobias Graf, what both have in common is the desire to strive towards living well.
At the age of 18 years young, when he met his future wife, Tobias Graf – who died in 2014 at the age of just 35 – had long since made the decision to lead a vegan lifestyle. This decision, which was set in stone, was doubtless brought about in part by the school trip to a slaughterhouse he had been on two years earlier, which had shaped him deeply and had made him become a vegetarian practically overnight.
Vision
His favorite hardcore bands at the time, “Earth Crisis” and “Morning again” – whose lyrics focused on the straight edge movement and the exploitation of animals – also reinforced his resolve in terms of his decision to lead a purely vegan lifestyle and to promote this vision in the world around him.
After completing an apprenticeship at the department store Hertie (now known as Karstadt) in the German town of Weiden, the staunch pacifist chose to complete a year's civilian service in an old people’s home rather than doing Army training. He then went on to work for Karstadt for a further year before making his dream of being his own boss a reality in 2001, when he established AVE.
foundation of the vantastic foods brand
Even back then, he found the concept of a good friend, who ran a vegan store, extremely exciting and far-sighted, but on his advice he decided to import vegan goods from abroad or have them produced.
Initially, these were mainly vegan bars and snack sausages, which he sold under the table to headbanging protagonists at hardcore concerts together with stickers and patches, but later this became a whole range of plant-based products for everyone.
In 2004, the Vantastic Foods brand was founded, which mainly came up with soy and other meat/sausage substitutes that were painstakingly and personally collected from the Czech Republic. The cooperation with a bakery also contributed enormously to Vantastic Foods being able to include more and more products in its sustainable range.
