Improving your local restuarants' menus - why cater for vegans?

Unless a restauranteur is already sympathetic to the veggie cause, why would he want to put vegan dishes on his menu? This page shows two approaches to dealing with non-vegan friendly restaurants. Firstly, just letting them know you exist, and secondly, making the effort to change them.

Making money

The restaurants are there to make money. Any argument you make about the restaurant being rubbish for vegan will go nowhere if there's no complementary argument about significantly expanding their customer base. Why would they want to change their menu for one solitary moaning vegan? Remember, being vegan is your choice and you have no rights to demand to be catered for.

Letting them know your a vegan

By simple asking if their dishes are suitable for vegans you are making a difference. Ask for soya milk for your drink, even if you know they do not stock it. Keep asking until they do.

Let them know you choose your dish because it was vegan. "It's good to see you cater for vegans!"

Send an email asking about vegan food. The chances of you getting a reply is low, but if question is asked enough times the message may get through.

Changing them

Know your arguments

First thing to do is buy align="middle" hspace="5"> and read it.

Soft targets

It's a brave soul that walks into an Aberdeen Steak House and attempts a vegan conversion. Try your persuasive skills somewhere that has reasonable vegetarian options, but little for vegans.

• Be prepared. Have a pen and paper ready. Have something with your contact details on. Have out any sample books or leaflets you may have in your bag. Dress like their customers.
• Go into the restaurant with a friend. Apart from boosting your courage, two customers are far better that one.
• Choose a quiet time of day. They will not want to talk to you during the mid day rush.
• Buy a meal. It's best to appear that you already use the restaurant. They are more likely to accept comments from keen customers rather than strangers.
• Study their current menu. Spot which dishes can be easily veganised. Look at the meat dish to discover ingredients they are already using that could be used to enhance their vegan dishes.
• Ask to speak to the manager about their menu. Staff turn over in the food industry is very swift. Talking to a temporary table hand with no authority will get you nowhere.
• When the manager comes, be polite ask them if they have time to talk about the menu and invite them to sit down with you.
• Introduce yourself. Explain why they should be listening to you. If you're a local contact for the Vegan or Vegetarian Society, let them know. Tell them you orangise vegan social events and are always keen to try somewhere new. ( It doesn't matter that you actual may not, but if you come along to a local veggie group's dos and recommend your new found vegan oasis to them, then in practical terms, you've made the hit.) If you know of any other way of promoting their restaurant then let them know.
• If at all possible, compliment the restaurant and its existing menu. "We really like your cafe, and we see you have a good vegetarian selection. Have you considered how you can make it more popular by having more vegan dishes? There are 11 million people in the UK that are dairy intolerant. Your dishes will be come suitable to most religious dietary requirements, your existing vegetarian customers, the 1/4 million vegans in the UK, and anyone who enjoys healthy food."
• What is vegan food? At this point you may need to explain what a vegan is - keep it simple. Emphasise what vegans like to eat, not what they don't eat - if the restaurateur is interested, he will be looking for idea for dishes.
• Give simple examples of how they can change their menu. "No one is buying your soup because it has butter in it, but plenty are not! Your satay chicken looks nice - how about doing exactly the same thing but with an option of tofu? Adding a handful of cashew nuts to your veggie curry will make it a balanced dish. Advertise you can do a cheese-less pizza. Adding a few pizza extra that are exciting for veggies, such as pine kernels, artichokes, asparagus, butter beans, tofu ..."
• Suggest some books. Have some recommend books at hand for them to browser through, perhaps some leaflets to give. Get them to buy "Profit from emerging Trends".
• Vegetarian Britain. Tell them about the Guide - it sells 15,000 copies and there's no charge to be in it. If they can cater for vegans, then they should be able to be listed. Free publicity is very persuasive.
• Vegan Society Discount. Ask them if they would consider offering a discount with a Vegan Society card - that way, they will get listed with the Society. Plus they will get a free sticker to put in their window!
• Give them some trade. "If I organise a social do here, could you produce a special menu for about 10-15 people?"
• Go back again!.

Hard Target

Exactly the same approach, but be prepared to say more about what vegans are and like to eat. Be extra polite, and leave them alone if they are really not interested.

Presenting your case in their terms

Try present the business case for serving vegans to them on paper, which is why we've written it up: What's the Vegan Business Advantage in Catering? espeically for caterers.

Credits

Written by Stephen Fenwick-Paul

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Audit

Story posted by on 2005-05-23 09:50:40.

Story last updated by on 2005-07-11 17:14:42.

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