LAZY Mixes

Elise's Story

Elise Batt is the founder of LAZY gluten-free and vegan baking mixes. She sells these at Grey Lynn Farmers Market.

Where did you grow up and what brought you to Auckland?

I grew up in Christchurch and moved up to the big smoke in 2015 to study a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Finance and Analytics.

Has food played an important part in your life?

I’ve always been a foodie! My mum is an amazing cook and has her own catering business, so I've always been surrounded by good food. It’s something we’ve always loved to do together, and even though we live in different cities now, we are always sending recipes and photos of our dinner to each other. While my whole family loves food, surprisingly I’m the only one of my sisters that has really taken to preparing the food… the others just love to eat it!

How did you come up with the idea for LAZY mixes?

I remember having a gluten-free, vegan cake at a friend's birthday. We discussed how annoying it was that baking for dietary requirements was never as good as ‘regular’ baking. I also felt disappointed that my friends had to eat a very average cake to suit my gluten-free requirements- it was these moments that were the catalyst for LAZY and my desire to create a quality product that was suitable for most dietary requirements but was still considered delicious by those who follow a ‘regular’ diet.

You have changed your packaging recently, why was that?

The first packaging for LAZY was quite rudimentary as I just wanted to test the product to see if anyone else liked it! I had such a good response from the customers at Grey Lynn Farmers Market, that I felt comfortable making the investment into professional branding. Now, I am totally in love with our LAZY characters - Millie Measures, Stu Spoon and Sammy Spatula.

How has the market helped you grow your business?

The market has been absolutely essential to the growth of LAZY! Being able to talk with customers and get immediate feedback on the mixes has been invaluable. If it wasn’t for the Grey Lynn Farmers Market, I would have never learned that most schools are nut-free and I would have continued to try to sell a nut bar for school lunches.

Where can we find your mixes, and what is next for LAZY?

As well as Grey Lynn Farmers Market, we sell online, or you can find our mixes at The Vegan Shop in Grey Lynn, and Bulk Food Savings in Mount Eden. We’ve just started selling to shops so hopefully you’ll see us in more stores very soon! We'll also be releasing a couple of new products this year—next up… a brownie! We’ll be keeping you up-to-date on our Instagram @lazymixnz.

What do you enjoy when you aren’t working?

Prior to COVID, I loved travelling - mainly for the food of course! In my spare time, I love to be in the kitchen trying new things and eating at new restaurants around town. I’ve also got a Spoodle called Fig, who keeps me busy. She’s a lot of fun and super social - we’ve made a lot of new friends and she loves to drag me to the park every night to see them!

As published in Ponsonby News : July 2021