How can you adapt your restaurant to the veggie trend?

Flexitarian, vegetarian, and vegan customers now represent an attractive market segment for restaurant managers. In fact, the veggie trend is gaining momentum and triggering a real change in modes of consumption. We can observe a general willingness to reduce consumption of meat and animal products. Some simply reduce their meat consumption, while others go as far as to exclude all products derived from animals from their diet.

What are the reasons to adopt this new mode of consumption? With the goal of animal protection, environmental protection, or simply for a more healthy lifestyle.

Although more and more restaurants offer vegetarian or vegan options to their customers, it is still complicated for these diners to find something suitable.

In order to improve their reputation and take advantage of these new and growing trends, TheFork has thought of several ideas for you to make your restaurant more "veggie-friendly":

• Offer a veggie alternative on your restaurant's menu

Offering a menu or some vegetarian dishes on your restaurant's menu will allow your establishment to stay up to date with culinary trends and to improve your restaurant's image to consumers, especially concerning the quality of your products and your ability to adapt to their new habits.

For your veggie menu, focus on food derived from organic agriculture in order to be fully in line with the expectations of your new customers. For the same reasons, choose local and reliable providers. For example, it is preferable to focus on farm producers.

If you would like to offer a 100% vegan solution in your restaurant, be aware that plants are simple foods and you must know how to sublimate to make the customer crave them. In keeping with many consumers, vegetables are present on the plate with the unique goal of accompanying meat or fish. Your mission will be to make sure that, in your dishes, the vegetables, the fruits, and the grains are sufficient by themselves. The possibilities in terms of vegan dishes are numerous: avocado tart, squash spaghetti, vegetable tartare, or chili sin carne.
Your menu will be reinvented according to the seasons in order to offer fresh fruits and vegetables to your customers.

And don't forget the drinks! Detox juices will accompany your vegetarian menu perfectly. For more ideas for refreshing summer drinks, click here.

• Take care with the presentation of your dishes

In order to make your new recipes attractive for your clientele, add some color to your plates! Although veggie cuisine might seem sad for omnivores, it can open a large panel of choices and flavors, and this must be seen in the dishes. We advise you to opt for original and colorful plate presentations.

• Create a natural atmosphere

Vegetarians are loyal to restaurants that offer dishes and an atmosphere that matches their lifestyle. The idea is to improve the image consumers have of your restaurant by offering an ethical framework that is respectful of animal rights and environmental causes. Arrange plants in your dining room and focus on natural materials such as wood or rattan.

• Check in with your staff

We can never say it enough, the choices of staff and briefing employees are very important points. If you would like to adapt your restaurant to this trend, your employees must be capable of responding to the questions customers ask concerning your new dishes.

• Communicate, but not too much

It is essential that your restaurant becomes known for adapting to this new trend in order to win over your vegetarian customer base while continuing to attract your regular customers. But be careful, don't overdo it! In fact, if you base your marketing uniquely on the veggie dimension of your restaurant, you risk scaring off omnivores and other customers who don't adhere to this diet.