Running a vegetarian food business can be a great way to serve a niche market consisting of people who often struggle to find nice things to eat in mainstream places. Whether you run a vegetarian restaurant or cafe, or you produce vegetarian snacks and pre-made meals, you already have a good, clear target audience to market yourself to. Another good thing about vegetarian food businesses is that your products don’t have to be exclusively for vegetarians – if they are tasty enough and marketed well, other people can buy them too!
Of course, while the number of people who identify as vegetarian is going up, veggies still only account for 3.2% of the American population. While that is still over 7 million adults, it can be good to look at how to make your products appeal to other niche audiences, so you can perform even better!
People on a Budget
Vegetarian food is generally also cheaper to produce than things that contain meat or animal products, so by setting your price points right you can often attract people who want to spend less on food, such as students and those on welfare. Offering food that is nutritious, tasty and doesn’t cost very much is far easier when you don’t have to factor in the cost of meat, and can use things like rice, pasta and grains which are cheap, along with nutritious fruit and vegetables. For families who struggle to make ends meet but want to eat healthy food, this can be a very attractive option, and as so many vegetarian brands tend to market to the higher end of the market with higher price points, you may well find a gap in the market locally by pitching yourself lower.
Kosher and Halal
Halal is the food permitted by the Islamic faith, with kosher being the equivalent for Jewish people. Neither kosher or halal forbids all meat, however because most rules around kosher and halal relate to meat and animal products it is far easier for food that is vegetarian to be seen as halal or kosher. If you want to appeal to people who eat halal or kosher, getting your products verified officially as adherent can help you market to them. You can apply to religious bodies who offer halal or kosher certification services, and should find the process easy as your products already meet their criteria.
Vegans
Vegans are far stricter than vegetarians, and won’t eat, wear or use any animal products at all. While some predominantly vegetarian people still eat fish or dairy, it could be that your vegetarian products are also vegan friendly. Given that vegans have an even harder time finding good food than vegetarians, you could do well by creating and marketing vegan products and dishes too.
A vegetarian food business can appeal to lots of different people, so why not try marketing yours to a wider audience with some of these ideas?