What's the Vegan Business Advantage in Catering?
Vegans are only a small fraction of the population, maybe only 0.5%. Why then would bringing in vegan-specific products enhance a restaurant's business?
- niche market: all the vegans will come to you, as there will be few competitors. Any restaurant can muscle up an extra vegetable with little thought. Few can leap to alternative ingredients. Those who do will win the niche.
- the vegan friend effect: a vegan amongst a group of people will be the deciding factor in where they all eat together. For every vegan served, several more non-vegans eat at the restaurant because of them.
- not only vegans prefer vegan products:
- the dairy intolerant (5-12% of people) seriously appreciate dairy-free cheese.
- vegetarians (4% of people) and meat-reducers (10%) will love vegan meat alternatives.
- the health conscious want cholesterol-free and saturated fat-free alternatives, such as Redwood's products.
- many diets guided by religious belief are satisfied by a vegan meal.
-
All these people, including vegans, have large spending power and cover the full spectrum of the population. We want to eat out, and we want to eat well.
- networked community: vegans and vegetarians actively network through the Internet, the Vegan Society and the Vegetarian Society. They spread the word on where is best to eat, which means endless free marketing.
Why does this work particularly well with pizza, pasta, toasted sandwiches and jacket potato toppings when these typically have such a cheesy meaty emphasis?
- everyone loves them: who doesn't like pizza?
- Pizzas, toasties and jackets are made to order with individual ingredients, so catering for special diets is particularly simple.
- most vegans, vegetarians and the dairy intolerant want cheesy meaty stuff just like anyone else, but without the animal involvement, but this is what most restaurants, cafes and pubs don't do yet.
- minimal staff training: the vegan alternatives can be used just the same. All staff need to be told is what vegan means and how to respect it. This takes an hour or two.
- vegan alternatives have a much longer shelf life and can be frozen and defrosted quickly.
Why did Pizza Express get such great trial results in this market?
- Pizza Express has a long standing reputation for high standards and clarity.
- their pizza bases are animal-free (as are Domino's).
- they are the only pizza restaurant which can state which of its cheeses are vegetarian (animal rennet-free) and which are not.
- they only use free-range eggs.
- thus they are the only national pizza chain to conform to Vegetarian Society standards when defining vegetarian. This gives them great credibility amongst vegetarians.
- additionally they allowed their local manager to do an experiment.
With no advertising and only word of mouth knowledge the Reading branch of Pizza Express served vegan pizza to order for a six month trial. When Redwood's melting Cheezly, Cheatin' Ham and Pepperoni were kept constantly in stock they increased sales by 2%. Yet they didn't even mention it on the menu. Imagine what the response would be if the dairy intolerant learnt they could eat pizza in a restaurant again!
Which products work best?
Of the extensive Redwood's range, you can't beat the melting mozzarella style Cheezly, Cheatin' Ham and Cheatin' Pepperoni. However, many other products make excellent pizza toppings, especially the Tempeh Rashers with spinach, and their vegetarian style tuna can be swapped right in to that tuna salad or used instead of anchovies on pizzas.
Redwood's is tops for melting cheeze, but there are other good meat alternatives out there. For example, both Fry's Mince and VegeMince make excellent Sloppy Giuseppe pizza, chilli non-carne, tacos and lasagna.
As well as these, add in other tasty and interesting items such as sun-driend tomatoes, pine kernels, cashew nuts, artichoke hearts, olives, tofu and tempeh.
As well as these, add in other tasty and interesting items such as sun-driend tomatoes, pine kernels, cashew nuts, dairy-free cream cheese artichoke hearts, olives, tofu and tempeh.
And for dessert and coffee?
Even if you can only run to fruit salad, why not serve it with soya cream, vegan yoghurt or dairy-free ice cream? Try the widely available Alpro range, and Tofutti, Soy Delicious or Swedish Glace, which all knock spots off regular ice cream and are healthier too. Soya milk makes excellent cappuccino or soya latte, as demonstrated at Starbuck's worldwide.
It is only a matter of time before most restaurants will cotton on to this rapidly emerging profitable area of business. Supermarkets already have. The restaurants that get there first will reap just rewards. It's the dairy and meat alternatives that make the difference.
Credits
Written by Sophie Fenwick-Paul
Comments
Add your comment
Audit
Story posted by on 2005-06-16 17:32:21.
Story last updated by on 2005-08-01 14:32:15.
Featured Articles
A guide to being active, plus vegan info sources
Basic vegan nutrition
Veganism is often heralded as a very healthy way to eat. It certainly can be, and has more chance of being so than standard western eating habits. It avoids many of the dangers of omnivorous diets, as well as containing much better quantities of most essential nutrients. However, there are still some key nutrients we need to search out and help other vegans be aware of, to keep us in tip top condition and avoid risks. Then it can be a healthy diet for life for us all.
That's why we developed this key vegan nutrition page for everyone.
Read more.
Medication and vaccination
Most medicines are tested on animals and many contain animal ingredients. We vegans and vegetarians all have to make our own minds up about the medicines we use, by being well informed and listening to all views.
Widely varying opinions exist on the pros and cons of different medications, particularly vaccinations. These lead to different conclusions from different people, with strong views even amongst professionals on each side, even before you get to the animal welfare issues. We will not pretend to know the efficacy and potential side-effects of drugs here.
Being vegan or vegetarian does not mean you automatically doubt the value of any vaccination and western medicine per se, any more than it means you will believe in every alternative that comes along. This is a separate consideration.
Read more.
Babies and Kids - Vegan Parenting
We have a growing set of articles on common vegan issues for parents. Do contact us if you have anything to add to the articles we already have or any feedback - we'd love to hear from you!
Read more.
Presentations and Cookery Demos
the ActiVeg news alert email list
Eating vegan for the environment
Recipes to inspire people
Starting up a vegan business
There are some enterprising vegans out there wanting to make and sell lovely products. ActiVeg claims no great knowledge about setting up businesses, so always get professional advice and talk to others who have done similar. However, here are a few ideas to consider to get you going. Feel free to add your experiences and comments below.
Read more.
Inspired to make a difference
Becoming an ActiVeg contact
LVW to AVN upgrade
This document highlights the changes made to LVW when it matured into ActiVeg Network
Read more.
Alternatives to animal products used in food
There are many animal products in food production and cooking used for their particular structural or chemical characteristics, which often have good animal-free alternatives.
This article will help manufacturers consider alternatives to animal products so as to increase their market share, by improving food choice for religious and food intollerance groups, without exiting the food's main market, as well as raising awareness of both the animal-based products and equivalents from plants, minerals and synthetic compounds.
Read more.
Kid's Party Menus
Sophie's random remedies
What works for me to solve every day maladies, or at least lighten them. Check with a doctor and all that jazz.
Read more.