Every January, hundreds of thousands of people around the world avoid consuming animal products for a month during what is known as ‘Veganuary’. The SV Group is once again taking part in Veganuary at more than 500 of its restaurants in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. For a whole month, the restaurants will focus on serving plant-based food, including a wide selection of well-known and newly developed vegan dishes. In doing so, the SV Group wants to inspire its guests, get them excited about plant-based nutrition and show them just how varied and enjoyable this kind of diet can be.
Dübendorf, 3 January 2024 – With more than 25 million meals sold annually in over 500 restaurants, the SV Group’s greatest leverage for sustainable food is in its range of offerings. ‘As a large food service company, it is our duty to promote climate-friendly and healthy food,’ says Dörte Bachmann, Head of Sustainability at the SV Group, adding: ‘Veganuary is the perfect opportunity to show our guests how good vegan dishes can be and encourage them to try something vegan from time to time. It is very important that our food tastes good and that we can offer our guests a large selection.’ The SV Group has been working on continuously reducing its environmental footprint along the entire value chain since 2013. Plant-based nutrition plays a key role in this. Every day, guests of the SV Group experience how tasty, creative and multifaceted plant-based cuisine can be thanks to the wide range of vegetarian and vegan options on offer. Around half of the dishes in the majority of SV restaurants are already vegan or vegetarian, and the range is constantly being expanded. For the third year in a row, the food service company is putting plant-based nutrition front and centre during its month-long Veganuary.
For this year’s Veganuary, 25 new plant-based dishes have been developed and will be unveiled in SV Group restaurants for the first time this January. Over the past three years, more than 100 plant-based recipes have been created especially for Veganuary, and they have also made it onto SV restaurant menus over the long term. Vegetables will once again be the focus of all the newly developed dishes this year, ‘and they will be showcased with innovative flavour combinations and new preparation methods,’ says Nils Osborn, Culinary Innovation Manager at the SV Group, who is driving the development of innovative dishes at SV. ‘In order to better reach younger guests, we have developed new comfort food and street food-style dishes this year, reinterpreting the use of vegetables,’ adds Nils Osborn. The menu includes dishes such as a carrot hot dog with mango ketchup and radish, planted. gyros with homemade tzatziki and spaghetti with lentil bolognese. The carrots for the hot dog are pickled in a marinade of soy sauce, maple syrup and spices, cooked unpeeled in the marinade and then coated with the marinade in a second cooking process. In addition, eleven new and innovative bowls have been developed in partnership with talented SV kitchen professionals. They include an Indian celery BBQ bowl with beluga lentils, celery, date BBQ sauce and lime dip, and a purple beet bowl with tofu, beetroot hummus, couscous, cabbage and pomegranate seeds.
Even during this vegan month, guests always get the final say on what they want to eat, After all, the SV Group believes it is important to avoid patronising anyone. Guests will find vegan options not only in SV restaurants, but also in the Gustav smart fridge.