Yield – delivering vegetable-driven deliciousness to the world, one very narrowly specific slice at a time.
Is delivery food taking over the world? Sure, if you’re happy to live on a diet of pizza and hamburgers. But what about something with a bit more substance? What about that moment at lunch in the middle of the week when you’ve got the let’s-eat-something-vaguely-sensible angel on one shoulder and the bugger-it-let’s-smash-a-Mary’s-burger demon on the other and you feel yourself teetering towards the dark side.
Don’t yield to temptation; be tempted instead to Yield. It’s a new business that, in the words of co-founders, sisters Celia and Georgia Churcher, is “all about delivering a package of goodness”.
On the strength of what we’ve tasted in the GT offices, it looks like Yield’s food hits that perfect sweet spot between seasonality, good ideas and good taste. Rounds of pickled bullhorn pepper and romesco sauce bring sparkle to a classic combination of chickpeas and potatoes with beautifully cooked hard-boiled eggs. Roasted cauliflower and farro come together in a festival of nuttiness sharpened up with olive, chilli and pecorino pepato, while honey-roasted carrots and balls of labne are the candy in the mix with freekeh and seeds.
It’s not all legumes and leaves, either. This week’s non-salad options include celeriac, pear and potato soup with pangrattato for a garnish, and, for something sweet, truffles of chocolate, orange and dates.
“We make food that we think is delicious first and foremost and has the happy consequence of being good for you, too,” says Celia Churcher. “It’s all vegetable-based, mainly because vegetables are amazing. We figure a little less meat in the human diet is a good thing for our planet and ourselves. Spreading the vegetable love!”
Georgia (left) and Celia Churcher.
This being a two-woman operation, the vegetable love is currently only being spread in a very specific part of the nation – the inner-city Sydney suburbs of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. It’s only Tuesday and Wednesday lunches, too, and you need to have your order in by one o’clock the previous afternoon. In that sense, Yield is almost hilariously narrow in its specificity, but the sisters Churcher are serious in their commitment to only taking on as much business as they can comfortably handle properly for the time being.
“It’s a weekday service, so most of our customers are at work when we deliver – busy and hungry – and we hope that our little package will add some contentment to their afternoon,” says Celia. “We’re looking to increase the delivery days in the next couple of months and expand the delivery area to Redfern and the CBD by the end of the year.” Office catering is the next step, and then, if they find “the perfect little hole in the wall”, they’ll do a takeaway site as well.
And the cheery radish figure that adorns the boxes and website? “Radishman was born from the clever pens of two of our great mates,” she says. “He was originally just a logo but he’s so damn cute he’s become part of the family. That look of contentment on his face is exactly how we want people to feel when we feed them.”
