This document discusses the rise of vegetarianism as a trend in the United States. It traces the origins and history of vegetarianism from early humans to its growing popularity today. The document also examines how the vegetarian trend is impacting businesses, providing the example of Veggie Grill which has seen increased sales serving vegetarian options to non-vegetarians. The chef at Rush Creek Golf Course discusses how adding a vegetarian section increased their lunch business. The document argues the vegetarian trend will continue growing and more restaurants should adapt by expanding their vegetarian offerings.

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Vegetarian Trend
Trends Assessment
University of Wisconsin Stout
Kyle Steinberger and Nate Ethen
November 16, 2012

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Section 1: The Seed of Vegetarianism
When most people hear the word vegetarian their mindsthink of a hippy or a super
health conscious eater. Although vegetarianism is commonly believed to have become catchy
around the 1960s, it actually wasn’t until the 1970’s that it began to rise.Its origins however are
from a time before history was even recorded. Michaelbluejay.com writes, “Many
anthropologists believe that most early humans ate primarily plant foods, being more gatherers
than hunters.” (Bluejay) Moving into a time where history began being recorded, vegetarianism
is thought to have become popular around Asia. The reason for this has a lot to do with religion,
mainly Buddhism, where their belief in reincarnation (when they die their soul travels into
animals, etc.) gives them a strong reason for not killing or consuming meat.
With a sense of where vegetarianism began, let’s move way into the futureto the early
1900swhen the United States meat consumption began to rise dramatically. This was caused by
the industrial revolution which provided the distribution and refrigeration of meat products to
be much easier. In 1971, Frances Moore Lappé's bestseller Diet for a Small Planet was
published providing the first spark in the vegetarianism trend in the U.S. Lappé was doing
personal research on hunger issues when she discovered that it takes 14 times as much grain to
feed an animal than what that animal actually produces in meat, which she believed to be an
enormous waste of resources. The website Michaelbluejay.com states a fact that says,
“Livestock eat over 80% of the grain eaten in the U.S. If Americans cut their meat consumption
by just 10%, there would be enough grain to feed all the starving people in the world.” (Bluejay)
This statistic is what the book focused on, and is what caused vegetarianism to begin being
practiced in the U.S.
One aspect that plays a big role in the growing of the vegetarianism trend today is
understanding that America viewed vegetarianism much differently in 1971 than how they view
it today. The research and knowledge dealing with vegans and their health was extremely low
and it was even perceived that you couldn’t actually survive without meat. The people who
began participating in vegetarianism weren’t doing it for health, but were doing it for world
hunger and peace, explaining why hippies are so often associated with being vegans. In the 80s
myths were widely held about vegetarianism making it unpopular. In 1987 John Robbins
published Diet for a New Americawhich wasn’t based off his own ideas, but instead combined
the scattered information on veganism and put it into a book. By doing this he restarted the
vegetarian movement and helped introduce the term “vegan” into the American vocabulary.
When the 90s rolled around medical research provided overwhelming evidence that
eating a vegan diet provided numerous health benefits. The American Dietetic Association
supported vegan diets, and started a chain reaction to the creation of the food pyramid. The
acceptance of vegetarianism by both the medical and general public is at an all-time high, and is
providing a new trend in the restaurant industry. With obesity in America becoming a serious
problem, and the medical knowledge we have of vegan diet’s is beginning to change the way
consumers eat. The rise of vegetarianism could begin to have a large impact on many
businesses, especially those such as McDonalds, which don’t provide healthy food. Also our
farming and agricultural industry could begin to boom as slaughterhouses begin to shrink. As I

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said before, with the growing problems of obesity and diseases related to it, it has begun to
change how Americans think about the food their eating, and what it could possibly do to them
in the long run. The restaurant industry has already begun to adjust to this trend by providing
things such as healthy restaurants all together, healthy menu items or sections, as well as
looking for chefs that can provide a healthy vegetarian menu item that would satisfy someone
who is not a vegetarian. With the rising knowledge of eating healthy, restaurants are now
beginning to see that it’s not only vegetarianism on the rise, but the eating of healthy foods
that is becoming the next big thing, and if you stay ahead of it, you can be extremely successful.
The key is not to make a menu for vegetarians, but provide healthy vegetarian choices that
allow you to expand your potential market, as well as offer non-vegetarians the chance to eat
healthier, which appears to be something that is going to grow exponentially in the near future.
Section 2: A Trend in Action
One case example that I was able to find is Veggie Grill, Veggie Grill is a restaurant that
serves vegetarian items to a wide range of people. The CEO, Greg Dollarhyde states, “the
industry has morphed a lot in the last seven to ten years based on how consumers are
changing. People are looking to eat lighter and cleaner.” He also says that “more people not
only care about how many calories they eat but also about what kind of calories they eat.” In
an interview that Greg was in, the interviewee asked him, do most of your guests fallow a
vegetarian diet or are they primarily vegan? Greg responded saying that only 10 to 15 percent
of people who walk through their doors are actually vegan. And the other 85% of people are
carnivores or flexitarian. This is very shocking to hear that so many people are coming in to get
vegetarian meals when they are not even vegetarian. Veggie Grill has seen a huge increase in
sales and they are very pleased with the change in eating habits of Americans. Greg said that
most people think vegetarian meals are bland or boring, but at Veggie Grill they have mastered
their recipes to keep their guests running back for more. Some things that I think Veggie Grill
did right, is marketed to a wide range of people, not just those who are vegan. I think that was
a smart move on their part to bring in a large range of diversity to their restaurant. One thing
that I think they could have done differently is expanding their operation to different areas of
the United States. As of right now they have 10 locations, 8 of which are in southern California
and 2 that are in Portland. I think that if the owners of veggie burger really want this trend to
bring them more business, they need to expand. As you can see there is a huge increase in
people trying to eat green. This is why Kyle and I believe that if a restaurant were to market a
vegetarian section on their menus, it would help to bring in a new group of people.
In Buenos Aires people go out for their thick juicy steaks, but recently they have become
increasingly vegetarian. Many people still do go out to the restaurants in Buenos Aires
expecting a perfectly prepared steak but in the recent years quite a few restaurants have
incorporated vegetarian menu items to help bring in business to their restaurant. Since these
establishments have started creating vegetarian dishes, they have seen a lot more people going
out to eat and enjoying their vegetarian cuisine. This is a whole city wide trend that is going on
it is shocking to see all sorts of restaurants changing their menu style just to gain a competitive
advantage over the next.

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One application that deals with vegetarianism not in the hospitality industry is the UN
warning the world that food shortages could force world into vegetarianism. According to
triplepundit.com, “Cows, pigs, and chickens produce 5 tons of manure per person in North
America per year. As a consequence, the EPA estimates agriculture for 70% of the water
pollution in the U.S., much of it from concentrated animal feedlots (CAFO’s).” (Cooney) Malik
Falkenmark stated in the report that, “there will not be enough water available on current
croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current
trends and changes towards diets common in western nations.” (Vidal) This is more of a global
application vs. a business, but it relates to vegetarianism because it shows how businesses and
everything else for that matter around the world are going to have to begin investing in the
vegetarian trend.
A second application not in the hospitality industry is the education industry. Vegetarian
items are being sold to people in every type of school from elementary to college levels. The
education of eating properly is being taught with much more importance for multiple reasons.
The first being obesity and how it has begun to take over America, and secondly dealing with
our economic problems just like what was stated in the first application dealing with the UN.
Vegetarianism is by no means being pushed onto kids, but it is allowing them to educate
themselves on food and make their own eating decisions. The advancement in this degree of
the education industry is providing a healthier generation and is also providing numerous
benefits to help our world’s economic resources stay abundant and clean.
Section 3: Business Worthy
I met with Mark Wessel the executive chef at Rush Creek Golf Course in Maple Grove
Minnesota. While interviewing him I asked him several questions about how restaurants are
trying to bring a healthier and wider range of vegetarian options. One question I asked him
was, have you at all tried to incorporate vegetarian options into your menu? His response was,
“yes, we have always had a few options on our menu, but this past season we have actually
created a section for vegetarian meals.” I then asked him how he has seen this trend growing,
or if he thinks that having a vegetarian section on his menu is even worthwhile. Mark said that
his vegetarian meals have been a huge hit; in fact he actually said that it has brought in new
clientele, mainly around lunch time. He said, “since we are a golf course, we do not get that
much outside business, but since he has added the vegetarian section to the menu, more and
more middle aged woman have been showing up for lunch to try out the new menu. Mark also
went on to tell me how popular the vegetarian menu options actually are. The veggie taco,
which is simply a taco shell, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, corn, feta cheese, and
topped with cilantro. This item is the number one selling product that Rush Creek has, Mark is
also very pleased with this menu item because it doesn’t cost very much for the ingredients,
Mark says that the vegetarian meals are real “money makers”. It is such a simple item, and it is
healthy. I actually had the pleasure of trying one for myself and I must say it was delicious.

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When I asked my final question, do you think this trend is business worthy? Mark
replied with, “I do think this trend is business worthy, it has worked to increase our lunch time
rush drastically and I think if we continue to expand and make changes to the vegetarian
section that more and more people will start seeing the benefits of eating healthier. I also
believe that any restaurant has the opportunity to hop on with this trend, several restaurants in
the Maple Grove area have already switched over to vegetarian menus to bring people in and I
can only imagine that more restaurants will start doing the same.” I agree with what Mark
Wessel has to say, I think that having more vegetarian items to your menu would increase the
number of people coming into your restaurant. I also like how this trend is a money maker for
your business, with lower cost on preparing the menu item you can really turn around a profit
and people will still pay for it.
I think that this new trend is going to impact the restaurant industry drastically.
According to vrg.org, vegetarian entrees and side dishes in 2001 was at $815 million dollars in
sales. Seven years later in 2008 the sales of vegetarian dishes is at 1.4 billion dollars and in
2011 the sales reached 1.6 billion dollars. This is a huge increase and I expect it to continue to
grow.
Some potential changes that this trend can have is not stopping at having a vegetarian
section. Adding more menu sections such as a glutton free section, I think that if restaurants
added a glutton free menu section for people who are allergic. Glutton allergen is a very
common allergy and I believe that if a restaurant added that to their menu I believe it would
bring in a lot of people through the doors. I even asked Mark what he thought about this
addition to a menu. He said that he could see it bringing in a group of people that might feel a
since of respect that they created a section in the menu just for them to eat from. He also went
on to say that other than those people who are allergic to glutton products, no one else will
probably order those menu items. I think that making menu sections for specific groups of
people is a great way to market to them and bring in a greater amount of revenue.
The way that restaurants can use this trend to keep a competitive advantage is simple,
all they need to do is continue finding new vegetarian items to put in their menu, the
restaurant will need a wide range of delicious vegetarian dishes to keep the customers
interested in coming back. Another way they can keep a competitive edge is by adding other
menu sections besides vegetarian, such as a glutton free section as a stated before. Mark
Wessel believed that a way you could stay ahead of the game is by creating a kids menu with
vegetarian items. He said that he has been testing menu items for a while now but has only
found a few that he believed kids would actually consider ordering. He thinks that if you were
able to find enough items to put on the menu that it would help to bring in families. According
to, The Vegetarian Resource Group, more and more young kids have become vegetarians. This

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being the case Mark believes that it is something that is very necessary to bring in families,
since we all know that the kids ultimately have the decision making powers.

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Works Cited
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Vidal, John. "The Guardian." Guardian. (2012): n. page. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-shortages-world-
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Wessel, Mark. "Rush Creek Going Vegetarian."Personal interview. 10 Nov. 2012.