Over the past few years, consumers have become more health-conscious in their diets and more eco-conscious in the products they use – and the food industry has taken notice.
As a result, fast-casual restaurants specializing in vegan cuisine have been popping up in cities around the country. They’ve combined these two trending concepts and have seemed to hit the business jackpot.
How Do Both Of These Ideas Align?
Consumers are changing their behaviors to live sustainably in all aspects of their lives which impacts the types of food they eat and where they purchase it from. Sustainability encompasses an entirely eco-friendly process: from production to consumption to disposal.
More people are choosing a vegan diet because it is beneficial to their health and the environment. For eco-conscious customers, the food they eat and the products they use must follow the same ecological guidelines. For these types of consumers, the eco-friendly food containers that establishments use is just as important as the healthy, vegan food served in them. They’ve proven that the sustainability movement is no longer a trend, but an expectation.
How Are Consumers Changing The Food Industry?
Consumers’ needs influence all parts of the food industry. If there is high demand for something, restaurants and foodservice establishments must be ready to supply it. Customers are outwardly stating that a restaurant’s focus on its environmental impact is a top priority when choosing if they purchase from them or not.
As more consumers are looking for healthy, eco-conscious restaurants, more businesses are turning to companies that offer eco-friendly restaurant supplies, like Restaurantware, to help meet their demand. This is an open opportunity for businesses to jump on the sustainability movement or run the risk of being left behind.
Vegan restaurants like Veggie Grill in California, The Butcher’s Daughter in New York, and Dirt in Florida have embraced this business strategy and have seen the benefits of creating health-focused and eco-conscious establishments. They all have curated healthy vegan menus for their customers and incorporated eco-friendly products for their take out and delivery services. These factors have propelled the popularity of these businesses in their local communities and prompted them to expand nationwide.
Customers have flocked to eco-conscious vegan restaurants to satisfy their plant-based diets and meet their eco-friendly expectations.
As consumers shift towards sustainability, they’re actively looking for meat substitutes and eco-friendly alternatives to replace their environmentally harmful products. Those above-mentioned vegan restaurants have hopped on the meat-alternative train to create innovative and delicious meals that have contributed to their success. Along with their meat-alternatives, these restaurants utilize eco-friendly take out supplies to serve their vegan dishes. Instead of using wasteful styrofoam containers, they have integrated compostable bagasse take out boxes that are sustainably made from sugarcane fibers. These vegan restaurants can praise their immense success to merging a health-focused menu with earth-friendly disposables. Customers take notice of these eco-friendly efforts and show their appreciation by choosing to return to these restaurants again and again.
How Do Businesses Benefit From Adopting These Trends?
As the popularity of living a healthy and eco-friendly lifestyle rises, more consumers are searching for foodservice establishments that share their same values. If your vegan fast-casual restaurant gains a reputation for being an eco-conscious establishment, you will attract like-minded customers that are more likely to buy your products and help spread awareness of your restaurant to consumers interested in this lifestyle.
Transitioning to a sustainable food establishment can also help your business grow in terms of revenue and popularity. Studies show that consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly goods and services from businesses that are mindful of their environmental impact. This can be a win-win situation for you and your customers. You provide the earth-friendly services they’re looking for, and in turn, you gain a positive reputation among customers as a trustworthy business – which has shown to raise the chances of them returning.
By marrying both healthy meals and eco-friendly products into your restaurant, you’ve hit the target on your intended audience. Consumers do care about their carbon footprint and show they do through their actions. Plus, with these sustainable changes, you will be reducing your environmental impact.
How To Make Your Establishment More Sustainable:
- Create more health-focused meals and incorporate meat-alternatives on your menu.
- Source organic produce and ingredients from local fruit and vegetable farmers.
- Choose eco-friendly alternatives for everyday products, from energy-saving light bulbs to biodegradable trash bags.
- Replace styrofoam containers with biodegradable and compostable ones. Restaurantware has a wide selection of take out boxes made from bagasse, kraft paper, poplar, and other eco-friendly materials.
- For delivery services, switch to eco-friendly cutlery made from renewable resources like cornstarch-based bioplastic or sustainable bamboo.
- Organize your waste. Separate your trash from paper and recycling products.
There is no longer a question if people care about their environmental impact. The sustainability movement is here to stay and only appears to be growing.
Are you going to incorporate vegan options and eco-friendly alternatives at your food establishment?
What do you think about this growing movement? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
