Better Not Be Butternut!

The bane of any flexitarian's life is the moment when they sit down for a meal and are offered the menu…

"Um... do you have any vegetarian options..?", they ask, ever hopeful, but equally bracing themselves for the inevitable response...

"Oh, yes!" say the waiting staff, beaming with misplaced pride ... "we have a Wild Mushroom Risotto, or a Butternut Squash tart.."

"Oh..." says the deflated flexitarian ... "thank you..."

This scenario gets played out every day, in virtually every type of foodservice outlet across the land - from cafes to gastropubs to fine dining restaurants, and the answer is invariably the same ... because it seems that, according to the foodservice industry, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans can all be pacified by the indomitable power of the wild mushroom and the butternut squash - after all, this is just a niche market, isn't it?

Well, it might have seemed that way back in 2004, when the Sunday Times was reporting that only 5% of the population were avoiding meat or fish, but a recent YouGov study concludes now that one full quarter of the British population have cut back on meat in the past year and 34% would consider eating less meat in the future - which doesn't feel so niche any more. And, regardless of the ideological, health-related, or even sustainability-led reasons for avoiding meat and fish, one would imagine that the economic reasons for offering a wider range of flexitarian options on a menu should be driving outlets to offer a wider choice - with the cost of animal protein rising rapidly, vegetable-based alternatives ought to offer better margin opportunities.

So what are the barriers, and why aren't more venues offering a better choice of meat and fish-free dishes? Lack of relevant skills in kitchen staff could be a reason, or lack of imagination and inspiration, but these are all things that can easily and quickly be addressed by entrepreneurial foodservice businesses. Inertia and habit are probably the more likely reasons ... "we've always done it this way", "our customers like the dishes we serve already" ... but, like French taxi drivers complaining about the incursion of the Über-ists, these are the plaintive cries of the dinosaur before it realises it's extinct.

A minority of more progressive venues are already leading the charge, however: one is The Royal Oak in Tetbury, which offers a vegan menu (with no wild mushroom risotto to be seen!) - http://theroyaloaktetbury.co.uk

For innovators this serves to remind us that just because there is a potential consumer market for a new product or service, developing the route to market is equally important - the biggest barrier to driving growth in the flexitarianism market may well be the inertia of the foodservice outlets, not the stimulation of consumer demand.

Bon appetit!