Plant-Based Consulting

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STATE OF THE RAPIDLY GROWING VEGAN MARKET

With consumer-driven interest in vegan food and products climbing every year, it’s easy to see why many restaurants, food companies and other businesses want to begin offering items for the vegan market. Isn’t the vegan market, though, just a tiny niche? Actually, no. While the number of vegans is still a small (but rapidly growing) portion of the population, interest in animal-free menu items is accelerating from all corners of the consumer sphere: From those who want to eat less meat for health reasons to those who don’t want to purchase products made with animal testing for ethical or environmental reasons. Plant-based items may also be seen as being not only healthier, but more imaginative and interesting. Offering quality choices that happen to be plant-based is a win for businesses, positioning them as being responsive to demand, as well as modern and adaptive to all consumers. Further, evidence from restaurant, prepared foods and product sectors show that the interest in vegan options is on an upward trajectory with no sign of leveling off.

Making some easy swaps to create vegan food options or creating more ambitious launches of product lines means that the business will get the promotional muscle of the very tech-savvy and engaged vegan market, which skews towards people in their teens, 20s and 30s, many of whom are very influential and love to share recommendations of what they enjoy on social media and beyond, from veggie burgers to new cruelty-free skincare lines. Getting this powerful promotion from the vegan market gives your brand a free and invaluable boost to their networks, which may or may not be vegan but are on the lookout for new things to try.

What’s the hitch? Navigating ingredients, food preparation dos-and-don’ts, marketing strategies and other aspects of launching vegan menu items or product lines can be overwhelming, intimidating and complicated. Indeed, sometimes launching new plant-based options can fall flat or, in the era of social media, even damage a brand from a PR standpoint if they don’t understand the nuances of delving into the vegan market. Over especially the past five years, we have observed many clumsy and many successful launches and can offer our expertise on what factors matter most as removing as many impediments as possible.

It turns out, with some curiosity, willingness to learn and flexibility, businesses can reach the influential vegan market and those that invest in this direction can reap benefits that extend well beyond that investment.

Here is why you should hire our Plant-Based Consulting team to help your business evolve towards this increasingly lucrative and inevitable market:

• We have been leaders and innovators in the vegan community for nearly 25 years and we have a deep first-hand understanding of the vegan community, economy and culture, including the issues and motivations that drive vegan consumers:

• VeganStreet.com was one of the internet's first comprehensive vegan websites when it was launched in 1998. Over the last 23 years, we have worked with dozens of vegan companies and organizations and helped launch several successful vegan brands and initiatives.

• We are a phone call away from many movers-and-shakers in the vegan movement, from culture and media to businesses, and we have frequently spoken about vegan marketing and communications at events around the country.

• We created and for ten ears ran one of the nation’s prominent vegan expos Chicago VeganMania, that connected hundreds of restaurants and companies with new customers and vendors.

• As Vegan Street, we have hundreds of thousands of followers on our social media platforms and we can utilize this – as well as our trusted reputation – to promote your vegan options.

What we can do for you:
• For restaurants, we can develop recipes and offer an analysis of menus to find easy options that are delicious and fit what is already available in the kitchen as well as is consistent with the rest of the menu.

• We can demystify ingredients and help businesses understand what is and is not vegan.

• We can identify areas of food prep that might be overlooked by restaurants but are (easily remedied) deal breakers to many vegans.

• We can identify ways to promote to your local vegan niche or launch a national campaign.

• We can show you how to create and market plant-based menu items anyone would like to order, not just vegans.

• We can help brands with everything they need for a successful launch, from logos and branding to developing a social media plan.

We offer a free 30-minute consultation to new potential clients. Contact us for more information.