UK

Operation go vegan stay vegan

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A post this week in which I voiced my concern about vegan people opening non-vegan cafes has garnered a lot of attention. The comment thread on Facebook has a life of its own and I think it is evident that this discussion is happening at exactly the right time.

One of the commentators suggested it would be beneficial for me to organise a platform to assist people looking to change their businesses into a completely vegan affair.

OK. I think I can offer some assistance. I don’t have a lot of time but I do take it on board that actions speak louder than words and I genuinely want to help people (and businesses) to go vegan and stay vegan.

What can I do?

I want to hear from people thinking of changing a non-vegan food business into a vegan food business. Once we have made contact, I can offer the following if you want it:

  • email conversation about your business and a vegan transition
  • you can phone/Skype me to talk about the situation
  • if you pay for my travel (I will travel by the cheapest means if necessary) I will spend a day with you and/or your employees talking about a vegan change, discussing vegan alternatives to dairy and working out a strategy and I will not charge for my time
  • I will supply you with testimonials by other business owners who have made the transition in unlikely locations
  • I will supply you with practical advice on sourcing vegan ingredients to replace dairy
  • I will help you write a press release about your relaunch and get it to as many press outlets as possible, as well as local, national and international activist groups, bloggers and social groups
  • I will make myself available via phone and email to discuss publicity questions in the month following your transition
  • I will feature your business on my blog and link to you on social media around the time of your transition to a vegan business

Just because I love to be dramatic, I am calling this the Operation Go Vegan Stay Vegan initiative. It is kind of like a vegan challenge, but for businesses.

Why am I doing this? The main reason is I am working to improve outcomes for non-human animals. Another reason is I wholeheartedly believe now is the right time for vegan business owners to take this step.

As I have mentioned on Facebook, there are 100% vegan cafes in regional Mexico, the West Midlands, Prague, rural USA and even an almost three hour drive into the countryside from my home town of Brisbane, Australia. They are popping up in the most unlikely places and they can succeed!

If you do vegan food and drink well, people will pay for it. Not just vegans, but people in general.

Please get in touch if you think you would like to make your business part of this vegan transition initiative. I am not the most knowledgable person but I am confident I can bring useful ideas together that will help you make this change to your business in the most positive way possible.

If you would like to offer a case study of your own vegan business (especially if you changed it to vegan from non-vegan), please get in touch via sean@fgvpr.co.uk – I will need all the vegan community firepower and ideas I can get.

Please note: I will have to exercise discretion in regards to who I assist and this might be based on my own workload or a host of other reasons. I envision being able to work with one business during a calendar month period. I am predominantly looking to assist UK businesses but will consider offering advice and time to people in other parts of the world but I will not have the same insights to offer.

Vegan camp

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Do you like the idea of camping in an exclusively vegan environment? If you answered yes, you are in for one heck of a treat.

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Ice cream massacre

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Forget all about our quaint Vegan Ice Cream Wars involving bland vanilla and reserved raspberry. Shit just got serious and vegans are rushing all over the UK to find these new flavours by Almond Dream.

It appears these tubs of frozen goodness only started appearing a few days ago in selected Waitrose freezers and already we might have a shortage on our hands.

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Your new favourite meal

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Manchester is rapidly carving out a reputation for being a particularly special place for vegan food and the photo that crash landed in my inbox today is further proof.

Tucked away in the once derelict (and now slightly less derelict) barrio of Manchester known as the Northern Quarter, a non-vegan canteen and bar called Soup Kitchen is serving up one of the most impressive vegan meals I have heard of in the UK.

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Can’t even

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As the title says, I just can’t.

Before you read any further, get your credit card ready and make sure there are no obstacles between you and your phone. You will need to do these things in order to be safe as you RUSH MADLY to place an order for THIS AMAZING PRODUCT.

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Vegan at Wagamama

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Josh has climbed on board the blogging train tonight to tell us all about his recent vegan food adventure inside the UK version of international chain restaurant Wagamama.

Take it away, Josh.

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Tear down the arches

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Why are McDonald’s restaurants closing all over the UK?

I was walking along the high street of my new neighbourhood when I noticed a shop front that looked to be recently vacated. Staring carefully at the place where the business sign used to be, I could make out the outline of the word McDonald’s.

closed mcd

How fantastic! Any McDonald’s closure is a good thing for animals. This particular branch had minced up and sold dead animals for more than 30 years and now it was gone. But why are these stores closing and does it even mean people are eating more compassionately?

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Wanna chat?

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I get emails every day from people wanting information about where to eat/shop/visit and as much as I love to help, there is only one FGV to go around.

So I hatched a plan.

I decided to create a space on my blog where anyone could register and share information about their favourite vegan topics.  I wanted to make it possible for visitors to my blog to have as much useful information as possible at their fingertips.

That’s why you can now be a part of FGV Forum.

The FGV Forum has areas for users to share info on topics such as:

  • best places to eat around the UK, Europe and the world
  • vegan deals in UK supermarkets
  • vegan alcohol brands
  • recipes
  • demonstrations and petitions

In addition, there is a place for users to introduce themselves and chat about any topics related to veganism.

The FGV Forum is brand new and will probably experience a few teething problems. For instance, Hotmail email addresses are experiencing sign up difficulties but this problem is being worked on.

I would be delighted if you could assist me in making it an important hub for new and longtime vegans alike. The more information we all post, the more valuable the forum becomes.

Head on over to the FGV Forum now and get posting!

Quorn doing vegan

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MAJOR vegan update for Quorn – available in UK from October 2015 – click here to read more

I find out a lot of information over on Facebook.

Last week Robb posted about Rekorderlig cider not being vegan which led to this post. Wayne is always sharing with me news of vegan food, including the glorious sandwich market stall Killer Tomato. Today I woke to a post on my wall from Sammy all about a tasting session for new vegan Quorn products. That’s right, Quorn are finally rolling out some plant-based options in the UK.

There has been talk for a while of a vegan burger made by the company, but enquiries were always met with a response of ‘no plans as of now to sell it in the UK’.

If you can be in Southampton on Saturday June 21, 2014 and you want to be one of the first people in the UK to try new vegan options from Quorn, it seems you could possibly even be paid for your opinions.

Follow this link to read all about it on the Rice Up Wholefoods website. The link includes details on how to register for the tasting.

If you do go, please pop on over to my Facebook page after the event and tell me all about it. I am so curious!

UPDATE – since posting the above info, I have received a few comments from people suggesting I should not give any exposure to Quorn or it’s parent company Premier Foods. Premier Foods is a huge business that also owns the Cauldron brand (amongst many, many more). It reportedly generated over £800 million revenue last year.

Please comment below with any concerns you have about the ethical concerns associated with buying from such a huge company/a company that makes huge amounts of profit from selling animal products.

ANOTHER UPDATE – As pointed out by a passionate commentator below, Quorn is no longer owned by Premier Foods. It was acquired by Montagu Private Equity. You can view the portfolio of this organisation by clicking here.