London vegan news, reviews & events
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Someone in the comments section on this blog recently alerted me to a 100% vegan restaurant and shop that opened in Ramsbottom last year. A few clicks later, I was scanning the enticing menu of Lolo’s Vegan and Raw Restaurant and Store.
Check it out below.
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I recently saw a post in the Manchester Vegetarian and Vegan Group on Facebook about vegan pizza and even though I’m thousands of miles away from Manchester, curiosity got the better of me and I was delighted to learn about the existence of a 100% vegan cafe/juice bar in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton.
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By now you’ve probably all read about how much FGV enjoyed the Napfényes chain of restaurants when we were in Budapest recently. I wholeheartedly agree that it was probably the tastiest food I’ve been served in Europe. However, I wanted to try some of the other vegan food in Budapest so I dragged a reluctant FGV along to Kozmosz one morning to see if Napfényes could be improved upon…
What’s not to love about Gatorta in Mexico City?
They give you delicious vegan versions of classic Mexican street food and serve it from a pop up stand featuring the cutest cartoon cat I’ve seen in a long while.
Check it out.
Cardiff. It’s your turn.
When news reached me of a 100% vegan grocery shop in Cardiff, I was ecstatic. The march of plant-based consumerism is fabulous news for our animal friends and compassionate people in Wales can now shop until they drop.
I reached out to Simply V co-founder Spencer to find out a little bit of inside information on his store:
Interested in marketing? Have a passing interest in mass advertising?
Let Gourmet Burger Kitchen demonstrate how NOT to run an advertising campaign in 2016:
Gourmet Burger Kitchen is surely learning an expensive lesson that will stick with them a long, long time. Vegetarians and vegans possess undisputed buying power that can seriously affect the financial wellbeing of a food business.
Who do they think holds the balance of power when a group of friends, family members or work colleagues go out for a meal? Yep, the people who won’t just eat whatever is shoved in front of them. The people who have special requests make a lot of decisions when it comes to group dining.
Take my partner Josh for instance.
Josh was working in a central London office with approximately 30 people, including 3 vegans. Every time a staff social event was planned, an email was sent to the vegans with a few restaurants or catering suggestions in order for them to say yes or no.
It was that simple. If the vegans didn’t feel comfortable with the suggestion, the staff party wouldn’t be held there.
You don’t have to be a genius to see how this translates into lost income, but I wanna expand because I like the sound of my own keyboard.
Imagine if 30 people were readying for an office meal and Gourmet Burger Kitchen was suggested. Josh and his vegan comrades would send an email back to the social secretary saying, “No thanks.”
I’m not sure what the average spend per diner is at GBK but let’s say it is a conservative £15. Now multiply the 30 missing guests by the spend per head to reach lost income of £450, which I would say is on the very low end of what a party of that size would spend.
When we start to think of all the vegans and vegetarians around the country who were outraged by those billboards, we can start to see the huge financial blow this could have on the burger chain.
A group of friends want to catch up over snacks and a couple of beers? The vegan says no to GBK, instantly costing the company £80. When my friend asks me where he can take me for a bottle of wine to catch up when he is in the UK, I think of all the vegan options at GBK but then opt for another bar when I remember the billboards that made fun of my compassionate choices. We would have spent at least £50 on wine.
And so on.
These figures might not sound like much as stand alone loses, but you add up every single time a vegan or vegetarian gets to navigate their group away from GBK and you are potentially looking at millions of pounds in lost takings across a year.
If I tell my friends enough times that a restaurant was disrespectful to me as a customer, it starts to sink in and inform their choices even when I’m not eating with them. Imagine this on a scale of a hundred thousand customers repeatedly telling their friends that a food chain made fun of them and their choices.
This knock-on effect of lost trade and decline in brand identity is nothing short of a PR disaster for the burger chain. Not only do they stand to lose money, but also the goodwill of a huge swathe of consumers and that is a lot tougher to win back.
So, there you have it people. How NOT to run an advertising campaign in 2016.
Hope you enjoyed.
Let @gbkburgers know this advert is antagonistic & in poor taste; esp when they could be promoting their veg options pic.twitter.com/pwaXTZwLjg
— Jhenn (@TheVeganRonin) January 16, 2016
As a vegan with a predilection for grocery shopping, I was totally in my element during a visit to Costco in Mexico City today.
Scroll down for photographic proof that I was almost overwhelmed by vegan choices in the mammoth Polanco branch of the retail behemoth.
Here it is, people.
It is time once again for one of my infamous FGV sweeping statements.
The following photos detail the best vegan food in Europe. Yes, that’s correct. The BEST vegan food in Europe.
Hold on tight.
If you ever visit the German city of Munich, you MUST make time to buy yourself one of these incredible vegan kebabs.
Josh and I found ourselves with a few hours to spare in Munich last month before heading to Passau to board a vegan river cruise on the Danube. A quick scan of the HappyCow app informed us that right next to the Munich hauptbahnhof was a kebab shop offering vegan kebabs called Royal Kebabhaus.
Although the shop served meat, the friendly server was quick to assure us which options were vegan. In fact, they were so proud of their vegan-friendliness it was plastered all over the exterior of the kebab shop.
We both ordered the vegan durum kebab which consisted of thinly-shredded seitan rolled up in flatbread with fresh salad and house-made sauces. I think the seitan was made by Wheaty but even if it wasn’t, it was the perfect combination of crispy and chewy with an incredible taste. Not being one to show restraint, I also ordered a vegan pide topped with seitan, served with a selection of fresh salads and sauces. So, so good!
Check out the photos below.
I know what you are going to say.
East London doesn’t need more vegan food and people should spread the plant-based love to other parts of the city and the UK.
Well, you might be retracting your complaint when you read about how awesome the brand new Café SoVegan is and you’ll probably be thankful it exists, even if it is in Hackney.
On hearing about the impending launch of the cafe, I reached out to co-owner Davina Pascal-O’Mahoney to get the lowdown on this new food business and this is what she shared with me: