Hi all,
As a Vegan for the last 10 years and having a cafe I have decided to offer vegan alternatives to "mainstream" cafe food. I would love to offer only vegan food but this would result in my business closing down because I would be "too specialised". I realise that there are a lot of vegans out there who would damn me for selling "regular food" to customers, however my husband and co-owner of our cafe is not a vegan. I want to do my bit for the vegans of the world and as such want to also offer meat and dairy substitutes for sale in my cafe. On other sites I have been damned for deciding to do this by vegan puritans however being a vegan for 10 years, I know how hard it was to go "cold turkey" first up and it was very comforting to be able to tuck into a seitan burger or to grate a bit of uncheese onto my pizza and to not feel so alienated from everyone else at social gatherings. I am proud to be a vegan however we all need to co-exist here in the world and to do so, we need to be able to get along with people who might not agree with our choices in life. It is all about finding ways to compromise without compromising yourself morally. Apart from this, there are a lot of people out there with dietary intolerances, allergies and religious dietary requirements who whilst not being vegan, their dietary needs run parrallel with our own and they also need to be looked after. I live in Tasmania and its very conservative in the area where I live and there are not a lot of avenues open to vegans where they can get vegan foods. It is also very expensive to purchase many manufactured "vegan" foods because of transport costs raising the prices and so I wanted to offer people the alternative of freshly made local products using organic locally sourced ingredients at competitive prices. Has anyone else gone along these lines in a cafe before? I am just interested to know of anyone with a similar story or anyone else who would be interested in replying to this post. After all, a business owner who doesnt listen to their customers and potential customers shouldnt be in business!
Thanks in anticipation of any and all replies
Fran )
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