The value of vegan: Get the plant edge

This month we are delighted to feature Rachel Lowe, Rachel has a professional background in business consultancy and founded Loved and Enough, a positive vegan food community, to combine her passions of business and food. What a fantastic recipe! http://www.positivelyresourceful.com/

Rachel explains how important it is that those preparing food respect the true definitions of vegan food requirements, to ensure dishes served are suitable. Here at Galor we have highly trained and experienced chefs who ensure dishes served are entirely suitable.

The value of vegan: Get the plant edge

There is a plant revolution driving the food industry to step up its vegan game. The demand for plant based foods is growing significantly and in addition to existing vegans and vegetarians, it is estimated around 30% of the UK actively want to reduce their meat intake. This is the biggest growing customer segment and is fuelling demand for great vegan food.

In response, the food industry is experiencing rapid growth of plant based products with many companies adding options to their menus. However, there is still too often a lack of imaginative and enticing vegan options. And yet it should be a simple test to consider if the vegan options are congruent in quality and variety of the rest of the menu, to ensure all diners feel equally valued.

Whilst the term vegetarian is commonly understood as excluding meat, fish, etc, some people will describe themselves as vegetarian when they eat fish or eat animal products within dishes such as parmesan – which can be confusing to others.

The term vegan is becoming more widely understood but there is also still some confusion. To clarify, a Vegan does not eat or use any animal products, this includes diary, eggs, honey, leather, silk, etc. Vegan is a way of life based on protecting animals, not just a diet – however some people who choose to eat vegan food without the lifestyle, for health or environmental reasons, are known as “plant-based” rather than vegan.

To ensure dishes served are appropriate, it is critical those preparing food respect the true definitions of vegan food requirements. It is evident in services such as high quality personal chefs like Galor, that every care will be taken to ensure dishes served will be entirely suitable, however the same cannot be assured across the food industry, especially as there is no legal standard for vegan food, so labelling of menus is reliant on honesty and training of staff.

Every customer should be able to expect fabulous food and a great customer experience, so there is real value in getting ahead of this trend with innovative and exciting plant based options which complement the existing menus, delivered with genuine care and attention.

An enjoyable dining experience is just as important, whether it is at home, in a restaurant or for business hospitality. The experience of an individual with dietary needs is also felt by their wider group and research suggests customers will tell 9 others if they had a good experience and 16 if it was bad, so for a group of 4 people, between 36 to 64 people will know about this experience, plus any others through social media.

In conclusion great vegan plant based food is quite simply great food, and the days of the vegan customer feeling like an ‘inconvenience’ are surely numbered because if they are not catered for properly, they will go elsewhere. It also makes sense for food businesses to meet customer needs and exceeding their expectations, while getting ahead of the trend to benefit from that plant edge of a bottom line boost.