Interviewer: | Tell us a little about your restaurant. How long has it existed, and what inspired you to open your restaurant? | ||
Derek: | We have been in business for just over 3 years. I had been a vegetarian for a long time, and was working as a chef in various restaurants. I then received the opportunity to open my own restaurant, and I became a restaurateur. The restaurant was immediately a great success. There seemed to be a big gap in the market for vegetarian or vegan restaurants at the time. | ||
Interviewer: | Were you a vegan when you opened the restaurant? | ||
Derek: | No. I became vegan two and a half years ago. I had been vegetarian for almost 20 years when I opened the restauarant. I found it difficult to be vegan at first, but then noticed how popular the vegan dishes were. I got a lot of input from customers and vegan friends and finally decided to switch to vegan only. My partner also became vegan just after I did, so that made it all that bit easier for me. | ||
Interviewer: | How would you describe the food served here at your restaurant? | ||
Derek: | We offer a variety of food, from wholesome organic food to fast food. We appreciate that people become vegan for different reasons, so we try to cater for all tastes. | ||
Interviewer: | Can you give some examples of the food you serve? | ||
Derek: | Our burgers are very popular. We offer a variety of burgers, such as a chilli burger, veggie burger, and nut burger. We are continually working on new improved recipies. We have a large salad bar from which customers can select what they want. We also offer main dishes, like vegetable curry, stew and, stir fry. We offer meals from a wide variety of international cuisines. | ||
Interviewer: | How do you encourage non-vegans to come to your restaurant? | ||
Derek: | We offer a discount to vegans who bring non-vegan friends to the restaurant. Many non-vegans come out of curiosity or health reasons and most are surprised by how tasty and varied vegan food can be. Not just lettuce and carrots. | ||
Interviewer: | What do you think is the hardest part about convincing omnivores to try vegan food? | ||
Derek: | There are different types of omnivores. A lot of people who like meat already also eat a lot of vegetarian or vegan food, and sometimes they don’t even realize it. As long as I replace the meat with a tasty protein alternative, most people are happy. Some people love the meat alternatives that imitate the taste and texture of meat or dairy products. Those that come more for health reasons prefer meals containing beans ands pulses. Of course there are some people, like my father, who you'll never convince, as they don't believe they have eaten a real meal unless it contains some part of an animal. There are even some vegetarians who don't want vegan food, because they think veganism is too 'extreme', which I find really stupid. | ||
Interviewer: | Are there any difficulties running a vegan restaurant that you probably wouldn't encounter running a restaurant that serves animal products? | ||
Derek: | The difficulty is that when buying animal products, you have many different suppliers to choose from. When you want to buy vegan products, you only have a limited number of specialized suppliers, because we want ot ensure that all our products are really vegan. The cost can be higher, because of the lower demand for such products. On the bright side, both the number of vegan suppliers and the demand for such products are increasing every day. | ||
Interviewer: | How do you see the future of your restaurant? | ||
Derek: | Business is getting better every day. The number of vegans and non-vegans happy to eat vegan food is increasing. I might even open a second restaurant some day. | ||
Interviewer: | Thank you for your time and I wish your restaurant every success in the future. | ||
Derek: | Thank you very much. |
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