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