Mane man Gareth aims for a roaring TV success
STUCK at home during the pandemic, Gareth Griffith-Swain started growing mushrooms from grow bags in the bedroom of his house share in London.
Now he has turned his bedroom hobby into a thriving business from the family sheep farm in Wales, selling to restaurants, local markets and online.
Today, Gareth, from Waunfawr, Gwynedd, is appearing on Channel 4’s Aldi’s Next Big Thing to find out whether or not he has secured a lucrative deal to supply the supermarket nationwide.
He’ll be presenting his dried version of the Lion’s Mane mushroom, an unusual variety that looks like a fluffy white pom-pom with thin, wispy strands.
Used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, it’s been winning fans in the West and is now at the forefront of the “functional fungi” movement. The hype is such that Lion’s Mane has become a breakout term on Google as people search for its claimed benefits.
These include improved immunity, gut health and cognitive function. As research is in its infancy, evidence to support these claims is still tenuous. But the odd-looking ’shrooms do contain bioactive properties which medicinal researchers say show promise.
Lion’s Mane has a meat-like quality likened in taste and texture to lobster. As founder of Fungi Foods, based on a farm near Waunfawr, Gareth has developed a dried version which can be used in cookery or added to soups, coffee, smoothies or tea.
The 33-year-old, who was picked to appear on the show out of hundreds of applicants competing for a contract to stock Aldi stores, says he developed his business through “trial and error” and was self-taught watching YouTube videos.
He said: “I was working for Nando’s and started growing oyster mushrooms for fun in my bedroom during
lockdown. It was a lockdown hobby but soon I knew I wanted to develop a product and I’ve always wanted to work for myself.”
On the Channel 4 show, Gareth will present his specially created dried mushrooms, which can be used for cooking, which he developed with help from Coleg Llandrillo’s food technology centre in Llangefni. The entrepreneur moved his budding business to north Wales in 2021, when his grandfather died, leaving the family sheep farm, Tyn-yr-Onnen, to Gareth’s parents.
With no-one in the family wanting to carry on sheep farming, Gareth is delighted the farm is still being used. Although he grew up in England he spent happy summers at the farm, and is keen to get back to his roots – by also learning Welsh.
“My mum, Helen, grew up on the farm and it was an idyllic place to spend summers. When my grandfather died and it was left to my parents they were looking for ways to diversify.
“It means a lot to be back. My grandfather, Tom Griffiths, wanted us to come back and I studied agro business at university, but none of us wanted to be a sheep farmer. I grow the mushrooms here on wooden
blocks and started selling to restaurants in Caernarfon and at markets. Lion’s Mane has a very short shelflife, but it’s easy to hydrate so I was selling it dried at markets and it was popular.”
Growing up to 300 kilos of mushrooms a week at the farm, Gareth sells them to the health supplement industry as well as for food. The other half of the business involves making and selling the wooden grow blocks from chippings from local tree surgeons, sawdust, bran and soya hulls.
Developing the dried Lion’s Mane, Gareth used Llandrillo College’s food technology centre for shelf-life testing, food safety and product development. “The centre has been an essential part of the success of the business, it has helped us plan the next stages of the business and see how we can grow and develop,” he said.
Gareth said mushrooms are a sustainable, versatile and delicious food source, and he wants to show people the beautiful varieties there are: “I believe mushrooms have a big part to play in the future of food. There is a lot of neurological research focused on two compounds found in Lion’s Mane that help the growth of brain receptors. They can improve memory, focus and concentration.”
To find out if Gareth’s Lion’s Mane mushrooms make it onto Aldi’s shelves, watch Aldi’s Next Big Thing on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.