Want to increase your customer base, boost your brand’s reputation and meet your sustainability targets? Sign up to 50by25!
50by25 supports restaurants to realise their potential and work towards building a healthier future for our planet and people. Be a part of the UK’s fast-emerging, plant-forward hospitality sector that is both good for our planet and good for business.
Your restaurant can pave the way for planet-friendly diets in the UK by making 50% of your menu vegan by the end of 2025.
Attract new diners
Lower greenhouse gas emissions
Boost spend per head
Increase profit margins
Join the growing tide of UK restaurants increasing their vegan options to meet consumer demand.
Planet-friendly food sells. Three-quarters of the British population are worried about climate change and over 70% of consumers think that it is important to buy food that has a low environmental impact. Why not offer your customers what they are looking for and go 50% plant-based by the end of 2025?
Not convinced that changing your menu will impact your Environment Social Goals?
UK Plant-forward Pioneers
We are all worried about the impact of the climate crisis. Endorsing this campaign is an easy way to boost your reputation for sustainability while also meeting the rapidly growing market for environmentally friendly food. As we learn more each day about the damage our meat-heavy diets inflict on the planet and watch as wildlife species are pushed towards the brink of extinction, we look to restaurant chains such as yours to lead the way.
What 50by25 Can Offer
To support you on reaching your 50by25 target, our team has put together an Insider Secrets series, providing your restaurant with a roadmap on how to increase plant-based options that appeal to your customer base. Content includes advice and insights from leaders across the industry, including famous consulting chefs and world-renowned plant-based producers.
By signing up you will:
- Gain access to the monthly Insider Secrets subscription
- Be added to our public list of endorsers to showcase your restaurant as a leader in sustainable food
- Be provided with contacts to the UK’s top plant-based producers
- Have the opportunity to get involved in further branded promotional avenues, such as 50by25 window stickers for your restaurants and social media collaborations
- Free Menu Impact Score from My Emissions, the UK’s leading carbon labelling company
Endorse today or contact our team to discuss how we can accompany you on your plant-forward journey.
50by25: Good for Our Planet, Good for Your Business
Need more reasons on how 50by25 will benefit your business? Explore the relevant subject below to find out more.
Attracting Customers
The number of vegans in Great Britain quadrupled between 2014 and 2019. Plant-based diets have had an increased popularity within the Gen Z demographic, who spend more of their disposable income on dining out than previous generations. By catering to the boom in people following a plant-based lifestyle, you could attract more customers and offer a more inclusive dining experience. Plant-based food is a hot social media topic and a market growing by 9% per year.
Sustainability Targets
And the carbon savings don’t just stop at the customer. Companies are looking for simple ways to meet their sustainability targets and increase their eco-credentials. Ikea has recently committed to making 50% of their main dishes vegan to help people make the healthy and sustainable choice, as well as aiding the company to meet their sustainability commitments. Expanding your plant-based menu slashes your carbon emissions and also has the advantage of a longer shelf life compared to meat, fish and dairy products, meaning less waste.
Increasing Profits
But what about the bottom line? Plant-based food sales also increase profits! Don’t just take our word for it, look at the example of Greggs and the introduction of their vegan sausage roll. The company had its best sales growth following the launch, with a pre-tax profit increase of £25.7 million compared to the previous year. wagamama has successfully expanded their menu to make half of it vegan, and in January 2022, Aldi saw a rise of 500% in plant-based food sales compared to previous years.
Adapt to Future Markets
We are in the midst of a climate crisis, the impacts of which we are increasingly feeling each day. Measures will have to be put in place to both combat the crisis and mitigate the impacts, which will heavily affect our food system, how we farm and what food we serve. 50by25 enables your business to get ahead of the curve and adapt before you are forced to, saving money in the long run.
Supporting Customers
Small actions add up to make lasting positive change. By increasing your plant-based menu offerings, you not only benefit your business but also support your customers in making sustainable food choices. Simply by choosing the plant-based option, an individual can cut the climate emissions of their meal and its impact on wildlife in half! Restaurants thereby play a crucial role in expanding the vegan options on their menus, enabling customers to choose a dish that is better for the environment and our future.
Environment Wins
Shifting to a 50% plant-based menu can reduce:
Increasing plant-based options is the single most impactful way to reduce food-related carbon footprints. Alongside reduced carbon emissions, there are numerous environmental benefits of plant-based options, including:
- Up to 75% less land would be required to feed the UK population if all options were plant-based
- This would free up crucial land for carbon storage, essential for climate crisis mitigation, and reduce the pressures on the world’s wildlife and biodiversity, essential for humanity’s survival
- Help prevent the sixth mass extinction. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of wildlife loss
- Vastly lower air pollution, of which animal agriculture is the single biggest cause in Europe
- Alleviate water pressure. Animal-based foods have a much larger water footprint than plant-based foods, with the beef cattle sector topping the scale at one-third of the water use in animal agriculture
Demand for meat, dairy, fish and eggs is a leading cause of the climate crisis, responsible for one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions produced.
Animal agriculture is the biggest driver of deforestation as forests are cleared to make way for growing animal feed and grazing.
One million species are now at risk of extinction with animal agriculture being the number one driver of wildlife loss worldwide.
The production of animal-based foods requires far more water than plant-based foods. In the UK, plant-based options can be 50% less water intensive compared to meat and dairy.
We are fast running out of space to grow enough food; 83% of agricultural land is used to farm livestock yet only produces 18% of the world’s calories. Plant-based options can greatly reduce this demand.
If you want to cook sustainably, then you need to consider more than food miles, which just looks at transportation. Carbon footprint looks at the whole production cycle, giving a better environmental assessment.
Top 10 UK meals estimates of CO₂ produced per meal as a meat meal versus the plant-based version.
Success stories
Back in 2021, wagamama became the first UK chain restaurant to commit to making 50% of their menu plant-based. Discover how they made this transition.
