Why Vegan Restaurants Going Un-Vegan Isn’t Necessarily a Long-Term Problem

When famed New York City vegan restaurant chain By Chloe rebranded back in 2021, the refreshed menu was still plant-based. But earlier this year when the business was acquired again, the menu shifted too, in a pretty dramatic fashion for its diehard fans. The vegan chain will now be serving meat, and By Chloe or Beatnic or, now, Inday isn’t the only vegan restaurant to make the switch. Philadelphia’s first zero-proof bar and vegan restaurant, The Volstead, also announced an “evolution” to a concept that “beautifully blends vegan, vegetarian and omni styles.” Los Angeles-based chain formerly known as Sage Vegan Bistro is another example, switching from exclusively plant-based to serving dishes with meat and dairy.

Sounds like bad news for the kind of food system change that is urgently needed. If everyone in the global north were to limit the beef we eat to a burger per week or less, we could help stave off the worst impacts of climate change. And there are other benefits: eating less meat means you help reduce animal suffering, though the exact numbers can be challenging to calculate. Still, does having fewer vegan restaurants to choose from mean momentum for food system change has also taken a hit? Not necessarily.

Why Vegan Restaurants Might Be Making the Switch

The last four years have been difficult for the restaurant business, vegan and omnivore alike. During the first year of the Covid pandemic, research estimates that over 10 percent of U.S. eateries closed their doors.

At the same time, sales of all foods in the grocery store, including plant-based meat, surged during the pandemic before hitting a slump. Supply chain issues and inflation then added new challenges to a market for plant-based foods that is already stagnating, and restaurants that serve plant-based foods have also felt the impact.

Vegan meat and dairy sell at two times the price of their conventional form, while plant-based eggs sell at four times the price of chicken eggs. Consumers are cutting back where they can, and that means less discretionary income for eating out. When budget-conscious diners do go to a restaurant, they might be more likely to opt for an affordable spot rather than a fully vegan, more expensive restaurant.

Food trends come and go. At the moment, plant-based eating both in and out of the home has taken a hit. But this doesn’t necessarily mean bad news for efforts to get people to eat more plants and less meat.

Why Do Consumers Want Plant-Based Restaurants?

While there may no longer be a groundswell of new vegan restaurants, there are far more plant-based options on the menu than ever before. As of 2023, it is estimated that 48.4 percent of all restaurants across the United States have some type of vegan menu option. Some of these are burger chains with one plant-based patty on the menu while other eateries have a variety of options. Even though many of these offerings have been short-term — Panda Express brought back its popular Beyond The Original Orange Chicken but it’s only available at select locations for instance — new options give more people, omnivores especially, the opportunity to try a new way of eating, with less meat.

Omnivores are a critical population. Even as numbers of vegetarians and vegans have mostly flatlined, food system researchers have found a rising interest in flexitarianism over traditionally meat-heavy diets. Around 72 million households are choosing flexitarian options at both the grocery store and in the restaurant.

Flexitarian shoppers are buying items like Beyond burgers and oat milk along with their goat cheese and chicken wings. There are meat eaters who enjoy vegan brands at their local pub. Giving these open-minded consumers a wide variety of tasty meatless options makes it easier for them to experiment with plant-forward eating.

Hannah Lopez, Director of Marketplace Development and Food Service at Plant Based Foods Association, says restaurants that offer vegan or plant-based foods are providing diners with the variety flexitarians want. And, as Lopez puts it, “flexitarians are the majority of consumers eating plant-based foods.”

Consumers tend to want to experiment with their food choices at someplace reliable and affordable. Garrett Broad, Ph.D, a researcher and an associate professor at Rowan University, cites accessibility as a reason why people tend to visit omnivorous restaurants over plant-forward only shops. There are more of them and it’s easier to entice people with a range of dietary preferences.

Restaurants that offer more plant-based dishes may up their appeal to diners with cultural food traditions. “Plant-based Mexican and Asian cuisines are trending across menus in America,” says Lopez. “We’re seeing that restaurants are innovating with ingredients while maintaining cultural cravings.” Master Kim’s Korean BBQ in Las Vegas serves a large vegan menu, with Unlimeat and tofu alongside their beef.

The Future of Plant-Forward Food, Whether Eating Out or In

Veganism as a trend does seem to have waned. Numbers of vegans and vegetarians aren’t increasing, and the amount of meat being consumed in the United States continues to rise — mostly driven by cheap, factory-farmed chicken and pet food. It seems, as Broad says, “the vegan revolution is maybe a little premature.”

Yet as restaurants make menu changes to stay afloat, Broad hopes for a gentler dialogue between owners and vegan patrons. “I think there’s value in going into these omnivore restaurants and continuing to say ‘hey, I wish you were still vegan but I appreciate you still having vegan options,’” he says. Angry tirades on social media, he quips, may not be “good PR for the movement.”

At the same time, even though a revolution for veganism has not materialized, Broad says he also thinks “stories of the death of vegan food, the death of plant-based foods, are more than premature.”

Last month, the original owner of By Chloe, Chef Chloe Coscarelli, announced on Instagram that she is returning to the vegan dining scene. The new venture, Chloe, will be housed in the same location as her first shop and with a fully vegan menu. With her return, Coscarelli may be able to breathe new life into a vegan restaurant scene that has not been the same since she left it.