vegetarian survey CONTINUED?

vegetarian, and i think it's a great idea. it's hard going out to eat sometimes when you are really hungry and all you can eat is a stupid salad. good luck. more power to you.

I'm a veggie, but what are you trying to do, proove that 100 veggie exist ? There are more than 60 million vegetarians in the western world. If you include mid-asia the numbers go through the roof.

You would be better looking at the performance of vegetarian businesses.

2 examples for you :

Our guest house serves vegetarian food only, we have 90% occupancy rate ( ie we are FULL most of the time - that means completely full for most of the year ). We charge average prices

The national average is 42% occupancy, most places are less than half full.

Our friends veggie hotel has a 80% occupancy rate. They charge 3 times the average.

As you can see, a veggie focusses business can actually reap more rewards than a mixed food place. Being veggie sets you apart from the competition.

Most star rating systems will insist you offer a veggie option, i can't see how you would be taking any risk putting a veggie option on your menu.

About 4% of the western world are veggie, less in the USA, more in europe, UK is about 5.5%.

Many meat eaters would choose a veggie option if it was a good one - Our guest split is 40% veggie, < 5% vegan, 55% meateaters ( who choose to eat veggie by visiting our business)

If you can include tourists :)... I'm vegetarian; I think your teacher remark make very little sense if you want to ADD a vegetarian menu to the fish-meat one and just little sense for vegetarian restaurant; the fact that there are few veg'an restaurants actually means all veg'an nearby will come to you just because you offer a choice. I live in Italy and even if my country is not the one with the bigger amounts of vegetarians, they're stil estimated six millions (three strictly vegeatirans, less vegan) over a population of 60 millions. That's 10%.

There aren't many veg'an restaurants in Italy, but I never heard about one of them closing for lack of customers.

Vegetarian here, as is the guy I'm seeing. We would definitely go on dates to your restaurant :D

And as Chef Tony mentioned healthy is the "trend" right now. Even Mc Donalds has introduced salads to it's menu. Burger King has veggie burgers. Subway has a "light and fit" menu in addition to more than 1 veggie option where you can get yogurt and bottle water instead of soda and chips. If those major corporations see the benefit in introducing veggie-friendly menus, assuredly they are concerned with appeasing a patronage that wants those items! Point that out to your teacher.

Furthermore there are people with food allergies and special dietary needs (low-sodium and diabetic options for instance) that you should also be able to accommodate. I'd bring that up to your teacher. You would lose money by not having these options available.

Just an idea, some restaurants have a marker next to certain menu items to say that they can either be prepared with meat or vegetarian.

My sister goes to a pizza place where they will make anything on the menu vegan on demand.

I'm a vegetarian

Realistically at the moment it may be better to have both because not all family and friends are Vegetarians.Ideally I would prefer just a Vegetarian menu,being a veggie myself.

Business,profit ,selling a product ,V Personal feelings don't always go hand in hand.This is one reason why I did not start up a restaurant.With the right people behind you it could work.Advertising is all important.You need to reach others.

Meat eater, we eat vegetarian very frequently though.

Your answers are skewed. Your title lines makes it more likely that herbivores will look rather than omnivores-youll most likely end up with a higher than real percentage of veggies.

However, why would having veg. alternatives hurt a business? It would be limited in profits, but its not like people would leave because you put those options there.

There are many full veggie restaurants doing at least moderately well, and most places offer at least some options. Making the veggie section its own special area would be easy enough--just like the low fat menus at most places, or even like a senior of kiddie menu. They dont hurt business, they just dont bring in as much as the rest. Alternatively, one Vegan can influence a large group not to eat somewhere, so offering full veggie/vegan options gives you a larger customer base.

Or are you suggesting a fully vegetarian restaraunt?

If so we have a few in my town (which is by no means open different ideas) that are at not doing great, but they are surviving.

You can't use these results. Theoretically 100% of the people posting in the Vegetarian & Vegan section should be vegetarians. The results are too biased to use.

use this instead:

The Vegetarian Resource Group estimates that 2.8 percent of adult Americans consider themselves vegetarian, up from 2.3 percent in a 2000 survey. Another 6 percent to 10 percent of the population said it was "almost vegetarian" and another 20 percent to 25 percent are "vegetarian inclined," or intentionally reducing meat in their diet, according to VRG.

I agree with Chef Tony. The location is the most important factor. A compromise may be the best solution. Why not offer both? I eat meat, but I often like to prepare vegetarian meals just as a change of pace.

Hi, I'm vegan and I like your idea.

One great thing about vegetarian food is that it's suitable for everyone -- vegetarians AND omnivores alike. Just because a person normally eats meat doesn't mean that they can't enjoy a vegetarian meal once in a while. And, at your restaurant they wouldn't even have to if they didn't want to!

My husband & I would LUV to be able to go to a restaurant with a decent menu for both of us. I am a Vegan & He is a not. He rarely wants to go to a 100% Veggie restaurant, so I end up picking through limited mainstream restaurant menus most of the time. I go to several places that have special Gluten Free Menus (I have Celiac Disease), I would think a place with a special or additional Veggie menu would be a hit. I have 7 Veggies in my immediate family & 3 Non Veggies.

Slainté(to your health)