A new survey by the Vegan Society has found that 91% of vegans sometimes struggle to find ‘grab and go’ food options, which has prompted the charity to launch its Vegan on the Go campaign.
Food options for vegans have dramatically improved over the last few years, but the research, which involved 2,500 vegans, suggests there is still room for improvement.
Veganism is growing at an exponential rate and is an untapped market that could offer huge opportunities for restaurant owners, investors and food developers.
According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database, there has been a 185% increase in the number of vegan products launched in the UK between 2012 and 2016.
The Vegan on the Go campaign aims to bring attention to the growing demand for vegan options and highlight to businesses that veganism is a market trend which is here to stay.
Elena Orde, communications officer at the Vegan Society, said: “We’ve seen some fantastic strides forward in terms of new, affordable vegan products in supermarkets and restaurants but we want to make it even easier for people to go vegan and stay vegan.
“Offering vegan food options makes clear commercial sense – businesses are opening the potential market up to not only half a million vegans in Britain, but also to a million more vegetarians, the huge number of meat and dairy reducers, the lactose intolerant, the health-conscious and others who simply enjoy vegan food from time to time.”
The Vegan Society’s survey last month showed that half of Britons know a vegan, over a half (56%) “adopt vegan buying behaviours” and a quarter (26%) thought public sector food outlets should provide a vegan option by law.
