Join The Caterer's free Plant-Based virtual summit on 27 January
Book your place for The Caterer's virtual Plant-Based Summit to learn how to get ahead of the plant-based trend and manipulate products and menus to appeal to all customers.
Register for free to join industry peers at The Caterer's Plant-Based summit on 27 January. You can hear tips on how to provide a full-service offer that pays its way while ensuring the balance is right between F&B and rooms revenue.
Sponsored by Future Farm, Macphie and Quorn Professionals, the summit will outline why operators need to take notice of the trend towards veganism, with an opening session from Nigel White, chief executive of the Marketing Place. He said: "It's really fashionable right now, if you go back 20 years ago, the most high-profile vegetarian was Jerome Flynn. But if you look at Hollywood today, pretty much all of them are vegan, throw in social media influencers and you have a trend that's unstoppable."
Sarah Wasserman, development chef at Mildreds, will be speaking on a panel discussing how chefs make veganism work in the kitchen.
She said: "The essence of great hospitality is to make everyone feel welcome. When we cater in an innovative and caring way for vegans, we expand not only our creative horizons but also our reach. Many people now avoid meat and dairy for dietary, religious or ecological reasons. When we welcome vegans we bring all those people who are curious about new ways of eating and caring for our planet to the table."
Wasserman will be joined by Neil Rankin, chef and founder of Simplicity Burger, Andrew Dargue, owner of Vanilla Black, Alexis Gauthier, chef-patron of Gauthier Soho Restaurant, and Claire Roper, head of marketing and innovation foodservice at Quorn Professional.
Andrew Aston, head of wellness and nutrition at Baxterstorey, will be speaking alongside Juliane Caillouette-Noble, managing director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, Jack Read, UK sales director at Future Farm, and James Clarke, general manager of Hilton London Bankside, on a panel discussing how to create and market a strong plant-based product.
"I feel that more and more people are choosing to go vegan as they are genuinely interested in the diversity of choice that is now available," said Aston. "It may seem like a trend; however, I feel that it is starting to become part of our everyday culture. Chefs and producers are becoming so much more creative when it comes to the development of products and recipes, which makes this subject more exciting and attractive to us all."
The Caterer's editor James Stagg said: "The combination of health-conscious diners and the threat of an impending climate crisis has skyrocketed the trend for plant-based eating. Join our virtual summit this month to hear expert speakers share tips on how effectively tackle this trend and learn what changes need to be made to create menus and environments that are welcoming to all diners."
Topics covered will include:
- Why is veganism so important right now?
- Does vegan always mean sustainable or ethical? And how can you navigate this grey area?
- How can you market your vegan offering without being accused of greenwashing?
- What considerations do your staff and kitchens need to make when approaching plant-based cooking?
- How do you manipulate your menus to cater for everyone?
