A firm foodie favourite at the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival, Pencoed-based Lilo’s is taking it back to the beginning, celebrating not only the company’s own milestone tenth anniversary this March but also a tenth year at their very first big event.
Lilo’s has come a long way from those early days, serving a small range of hot, handmade pasta dishes from a VW camper food truck – sometimes roadside to build the now loyal customer base – and among other celebrations planned, founder Chloe Evans is looking forward to marking the anniversary in style at the festival which will take place across the end of May Bank Holiday weekend (26th-27th).
Speaking about how far the company has come, Chloe said:
“I really can’t believe we’ve hit the ten-year mark and it’s been an incredible journey!
“I can vividly remember rocking up at Cowbridge just a few months after we’d started – serving from our little van, opening up the hatch and being totally overwhelmed by the massive queue facing us; in a good way of course!
“We were crazily busy from start to finish and it was such a great learning curve so to be back after ten years, now with two stalls serving both our dried pasta and sauces to take away, as well as our freshly cooked hot food options is just fantastic.”
Lilo’s now boasts two stores in Cardiff and Pencoed, offering a huge range of flavoured handmade pasta, including chilli and smoked paprika, garlic and herb, spinach, butterfly tea and even charcoal.
Chloe, with help from colleague Lexi Orchard produces an average of 500kg of fresh and dried artisan pasta each week at the company’s unit in Pencoed and the team is constantly looking to increase the range and bring new and innovative ideas to the world of pasta making.
Admitting to her own sweet tooth, changes during the Covid period gave Chloe the opportunity to experiment even more and along came the now hugely popular chocolate flavoured pasta.
“I wanted to really put my own stamp on things and I’ve loved seeing this product grow; people seem intrigued by it and buy it for friends and family as gifts.
“I don’t think people expect to see pasta as a dessert option but with chocolate, maybe a bit of Biscoff spread and some ice cream, what’s not to love?
“It’s gone so well that we’re about to launch a chocolate gnocchi and the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival will be one of the first chances for customers to sample it so we’re really excited about that aswell.
“The festival is always a great platform for us and really does remind us of how far things have come.
“We have our two stores serving customers daily with our build your own lunch / dinner options, dried pastas and sauces but there’s nothing quite like a festival vibe.
“Our wild boar hot dog with barbecue pasta sauce always goes down well at Cowbridge and we’ll also have plenty of vegan and vegetarian options available.
“It’s a huge year for us and we’d like to thank all our customers, old and new and look forward to catching up with everyone in May!”
Welcoming Lilo’s back to Cowbridge, festival manager Tracy James-Lieberman said:
“We genuinely love Lilo’s! Such a festival favourite every year and to see the way Chloe has grown the business and all the new and exciting additions to the product range is just fabulous.
“I know they’ll be guaranteed another busy year with plenty of queues – the ten-year anniversary is a massive achievement; huge congrats to the team, can’t wait to try the chocolate gnocchi!”.
The Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival will take place on May 26th – 27th.
For further information, see cowbridgefoodanddrink.org
