More evidence of the growing popularity of vegan food in the UK has come today from the delivery service Deliveroo. It is reporting that orders for vegan food delivery skyrocketed in 2020 – up 163 % in 2019.
The company has also noted the increasing number of vegan-friendly restaurants and cafes on its app which has doubled in a year with over 12,000 outlets offering vegan options.
It highlights Brighton, Bristol, London, Manchester, and Edinburgh as the key cities driving the plant-based food revolution.
So what might have driven the growth? The number of takeaways delivered by services like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat soared in 2020 fueled by the lockdown. Deliveroo CEO and founder Will Shu recently said: “This year we have seen rapid consumer adoption of online food delivery, with more people ordering more frequently. Covid has accelerated strong underlying trends and there is an enormous opportunity ahead.
At the same time Veganuary 2020 was its most successful yet with over 400k participants.
It is interesting to note too that many mainstream restaurants increased the number of their vegan offerings in the first part of the year to meet demand.
“We’re continuing to see a massive increase in demand from our customers for vegan dishes and so many of our restaurant partners have created exciting new dishes to kick-off Veganuary 2021,” Elena Devis, Vegan Category Specialist at Deliveroo, said. “Vegan and plant-based food is a growth area we are really excited by at Deliveroo so we’re super happy to be supporting Veganuary again this year.”
