Vegan Is the Norm! These Companies Are Making Vegan the Default Option
A growing number of businesses are making vegan options the standard choice in order to meet their climate goals. Find out how they’re doing it and what it means for animals and the planet.
Vegan Is Normal
When vegan is the default option, customers are served vegan food or drinks unless they request otherwise. Normalising vegan options helps consumers make kinder and more sustainable choices, which in turn helps animals and the planet.
Raising and killing animals for food is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, causes air and water pollution and is linked to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Impact assessments show that switching to plant milks can slash the carbon footprint of hot drinks by 50% to 75% and uses considerably less land and water.
These companies are championing vegan options as the norm:
Plant Milk
University College London has made oat milk the default option in all four cafés in the Student Union.
The University of Birmingham trialled using oat milk by default in March 2023.
London School of Economics and Political Science serves plant-based milks as standard in The Shaw Café.
The University of Aberdeen made oat milk the standard choice for drinks across all four of its cafés to celebrate Earth Day 2023 and has committed to expanding plant-based food options across campus.
The University of Bristol and the University of Kent state in their sustainable food plans their intention to move away from dairy as the default milk served in hot drinks.
Sodexo made oat milk the norm at LinkedIn’s offices in San Francisco, where 65% of the food on the menu is vegan.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters in the US switched to oat milk as the default.
Plant milk coffee machines are popping up all over the UK – you can spot them at Costa Express locations, BaxterStorey catered offices, Amazon Fresh, Waitrose, and M&S, among other places.
Vegan Food
Burger King Austria’s “Normal or with meat?” campaign in 2022 made the plant-based versions of its popular products the normal choice on menus. Customers ordering the chain’s signature Whopper were offered the plant-based Whopper unless they requested otherwise.
Burger King Germany has reduced the price of its vegan food to make it cheaper than animal-derived options as part of its 2024 “Plant-Based for Everyone” campaign.
Burger King UK will make 50% of its menu vegan by 2030, and fully vegan Burger King restaurants have opened for one month in countries including the UK, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.
Hospitals in New York have made vegan food the default option for patients in order to improve health outcomes, cut carbon emissions, and decrease food costs. A 2024 report found the switch resulted in high patient satisfaction, a 36% reduction in the hospital system’s greenhouse gas emissions, and a saving of $318,000 (roughly £243,000) in 2023.
The University of Oxford’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics has served vegan food as the norm since 2021 and reported that “almost everyone opts for the default: plant-based options”.
The BAFTAs award ceremony now uses all-vegan caviar exclusively.
Otto’s Burger in Germany has meat-free burgers as the norm, and beef burgers are only served when customers request them. In 2022, the business ran an initiative for World Vegan Month in which beef burgers were €1 more expensive to help people make climate-friendly choices.
The National Trust’s infamous scones are vegan by default and sold by the millions every year.
After noticing an increase in demand from customers, National Trust for Scotland partnered with vegan chocolate brand Moo Free to offer exclusively animal-friendly rewards in its Easter Egg Trails 2024, making the events more accessible and inclusive.
IKEA France has replaced meat nuggets with vegan nuggets on its children’s menu, and in the UK, IKEA offers solely vegan nuggets.
The New York Times served guests a vegan-by-default lunch at its Climate Forward 2024 event in accordance with climate-forward values.
100% Vegan
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards dinners in 2021 and 2022 had fully vegan menus.
The O2, working with catering service Levy, served only vegan food throughout the venue for Billie Eilish’s six-show residency in June 2022.
Kew Gardens’ Pavilion Bar and Grill went fully vegan for three months over the summer in 2022.
At the Countdown Summit in 2021, TED’s inaugural climate conference, menus were vegan throughout the event.
City, county, and town councils throughout the UK, including Exeter, Hythe, Lewisham, Nottingham, Oxford, and Oxfordshire, have switched to plant-based food at council functions to help combat the climate catastrophe.
The students’ union of the University of Cambridge voted in favour of transitioning to 100% vegan menus across the university, and Darwin College’s May Ball in 2023 and 2024 was fully vegan – the first college at the institution to do so.
Other UK universities where students voted to transition to 100% vegan catering in order to combat the climate and biodiversity crises include London Metropolitan University, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, the University of Birmingham, the University of Kent, the University of Warwick, Newcastle University, the University of Exeter, Falmouth University, Lancaster University and the University of Stirling.
Businesses including Clive’s Pies, Flora, Pecan Deluxe, Vivera, and Candy Kittens have ditched animal-derived ingredients entirely and made their ranges completely vegan to be more animal-friendly, sustainable, efficient, and inclusive.
Make Vegan the Default Choice Every Time You Eat
Eating plants protects animals, the planet, and our health. It’s never been easier to choose delicious vegan food and drinks, so what are you waiting for? Order PETA’s free vegan starter kit, which is packed with recipes, meal plans, and tips to help you go and stay vegan.
