When planning menus there’s a lot to consider. From the kitchen space and the time staff have to prepare, to the size of your pantry and storage requirements, it’s a long list.
You need to minimise wastage and keep ingredient costs low, but still feed your customers delicious and nourishing meals regardless of their dietary requirements. This is where an inclusive catering mind-set can help.
Inclusive catering, in short, is intentionally creating dishes that cater for a broad variety of dietary requirements. Here’s why plant-based dishes are the ideal way to do this.
Previously thought to make up 1% of the population, those with vegan dietary requirements might be low on the list when designing menus. But creating appetising plant-based dishes can cater for much more than this 1%.
Whether it’s dairy allergies, religious dietary practices, vegetarians or just plain preference, a strong plant-based offering on your menu can appeal to the masses.
Curating delicious, enticing dishes is key. Salads and wholefoods are welcome as healthier options but aren’t always the most filling. Including plant-based proteins prepared in similar formats, whether that’s a meatless meatball created with kidney beans, or a meat alternative, can satiate customers and give them the comforting, familiar flavours they crave.
You can see the full breadth of products available on the market and gain further inspiration for dishes at Plant Based World Expo Europe, taking place at ExCeL London in November later this year.
One area that has already made headway with an inclusive catering approach is universities, helped by an increased demand for plant-based options from students. In the academic year 2021-2022, 2.2m students attended over 160 universities in the UK.
Two-thirds of teenagers in the UK agree that environmental issues are one of the most significant challenges faced today, according to The Eating Better Alliance, and a significant number of them have gone plant-based as a result. Universities, then, are a great place to introduce an inclusive catering approach.
Worldwide, educational catering is making clear progress towards offering plant-based options as either the default or an easy-to-locate option.
In the US, Sodexo confirmed earlier this year that it will convert 50% of all its college catering to plant-based dishes by 2025. This followed in-house research into Sodexo’s carbon footprint, whereby auditors discovered that around 70% of the 2020 supply chain impact was attributed to animal-based food products, such as meat and dairy.
With a desire to reduce carbon emissions by 34% by 2025, Sodexo identified plant-based menus as a fast route to more sustainable credentials.
Fellow large food service provider Aramark has also committed to increasing the plant-based options served on US college campuses and, like Sodexo, is working closely with the Humane Society of the United States to ensure a smooth transition to more meat-free menus.
Whether it’s responding to growing demand from your customers, or driven by a desire to cut carbon emissions, transitioning menus towards plant-based dishes offers numerous benefits for businesses.
Many operators still view dietary requirements as a check-box exercise after the fact, not something that should be considered at early stages of menu conception. By designing dishes that are free from dairy, meat and other allergens, kitchens can reduce the need for buying in pricey specialty items that cater for those needs.
With a core menu offering that works for most of your customer base, you can reduce wastage costs, storage space and preparation time needed to serve customers.
Looking for inspiration on how to make that happen? Plant Based World Expo is your opportunity to discover the latest innovations in plant-based cuisine, gain actionable insights into the benefits it offers your business and network with fellow food and beverage professionals.
You can sample high-quality, delicious plant-based products and solutions from around the world. In addition to exhibitors on the show floor, you can attend culinary demonstrations and conference sessions designed to help you curate more plant-based dishes on your menus. Join Sodexo, Fresh Direct, Bidfood, ISS and many more catering companies and suppliers attending.