Press release
National Vegetarian Week 2012
POOR SERVICE PUTS NEARLY TWO BILLION POUNDS WORTH
OF CATERING BUSINESS AT RISK
21 May 2012
Launching National Vegetarian Week (21-27 May 2012), the Vegetarian Society revealed today that poor service for vegetarians and vegans is putting a whopping £1.8billion worth of catering business at risk1.
Vegetarians account for nearly two and a half billion pounds worth of food eaten outside of the home each year, at restaurants, cafes and workplace canteens but three quarters of them are unhappy with what’s on offer. The Big Veggie Survey (2011) showed that lack of choice when eating out was the biggest difficulty veggies faced in relation to their chosen diet, with 75% of vegetarians indicating that it was a problem.
Asked to further indicate what the most important issues were when eating out, respondents to the survey listed ‘knowing staff understand what it means not to eat meat and that a meal is truly vegetarian’ and, according to Liz O’Neill from the Vegetarian Society, the have a point.
“Contrary to popular opinion, the Big Veggie Survey showed that only 3% of self-declared vegetarians eat fish. However, past research commissioned by the Vegetarian Society revealed that 85% of vegetarians have been offered fish as a vegetarian choice, when eating out2. If restaurants can’t even get that kind of thing right then vegetarian customers are right to be concerned.
“The UK catering industry employs over 1.3million people and in a recession nobody can afford to lose sales. We already know that a single vegetarian in a mixed group has a disproportionate influence on where that group chooses to dine so there’s a huge slice of business up for grabs by those willing to pay a bit of attention to the details and offer great meat-free food for all their customers.”
Now in its twentieth year National Vegetarian Week (NVW) is the annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle. Everyone is welcome and activities take place throughout the UK. You can find out more at www.nationalvegetarianweek.org.
Ends
References
1 Total consumer expenditure on catering services: £78.9billion (Food Statistics Pocketbook, 2011, DEFRA/National Statistics).
Proportion of vegetarians in the UK population: 3% (Food Standards Agency, Public Attitudes to Food Issues – UK, 2009)
Proportion of vegetarians who experience difficulty due to lack of choice of suitable food in restaurants (incl work canteens): 75% (Big Veggie Survey, commissioned by the Vegetarian Society, 2011).
2 Proportion of visitors to the Vegetarian Society website who had visited an establishment offering fish as a vegetarian option: 85% (survey of 1,000 visitors to www.vegsoc.org, 2003)
Notes for editors
A Big Veggie Survey highlights report is available from the Vegetarian Society. To request a copy, or any other press information, images or interviews please contact Su or Liz on 0161 925 2012/2013 email su@vegsoc.org or liz@vegsoc.org , mobile 07973 108 165/7.
Lots of information about the Vegetarian Society and vegetarianism in general can be found at www.vegsoc.org/press