Veganuary is embarking upon a grand vegan tour this January. We’ll be visiting local, independent health food stores across the UK, and taking some of our favourite foodie brands along for the ride!
Launched in 2014, Veganuary is a charity on a mission to inspire people to try a vegan diet by signing up to a free, 31 day pledge. We are dedicated to changing public attitudes towards veganism, making the vegan diet as accessible and approachable as possible to a wider audience. As a charity, our aim is to provide everyone with practical, unbiased information and support to help facilitate an effortless transition into veganism. Since the beginning of the Veganuary campaign, our popularity and significance have grown exponentially. Almost every year, we have managed to double the number of annual sign-ups and pledges, with an estimated figure for 2019 reaching over 300,000!
We are a supportive network of like-minded individuals with a collective mission to help showcase the incredible benefits a vegan diet has to offer. We are approachable, non-confrontational and passionate about guiding our pledges through their vegan journey. Through becoming vegan, we benefit the animals, environment and health of our population beyond comparison.
Zoe West Veganuary Corporate Outreach Manager says: “Veganuary is creating a new wave of consumers and shoppers with both strong ethics and a big appetite! Right now, there is a real opportunity for brands and retailers to improve, expand and promote their vegan and plant-based offerings to a wider audience. We’re delighted that these incredible brands have risen to this challenge – helping us to create the change we desire and provide the product to meet the consumer demand.”
Supporting Independent Health Stores
Veganuary’s impact upon the UK’s retail market is substantial, as we continue to influence the buying patterns of the consumers we reach. We are proud to be able to help educate and inform individuals, whilst helping facilitate a sustainable diet and lifestyle change. Without a shadow of a doubt, being vegan in 2018 and 2019 has never been easier. The variety of products available for vegans of all levels of experience has expanded rapidly over the past 5 years. But when it comes to advising people as to the best products to purchase, especially for newly transitioning vegans, Veganuary is keen to connect our participants with the knowledge and expertise of the independent health stores. Thus, our tour was born!
This January, Veganuary is working alongside the NAHS (National Association of Health Stores), a trade association aiming to promote and protect the interests of the specialist health store and to encourage the proliferation of health food stores. They aim to improve the health of the nation by inspiring consumers and shoppers through building awareness and driving footfall to independent health stores. We want to make the independent health retailer a one-stop-shop for new vegans – an environment where great vegan food meets inspiring and influential expert information. Veganuary wants to showcase the breadth of plant-based knowledge which independent health store owners have to offer, owing to years of experience in the health food trade.
Veganuary’s Roadtrip
This January, Veganuary is taking to the road! We’ll be visiting over 15 independent health food shops around the UK through the entire month, with the aim to encourage Veganuary 2019 participants to head down to their local health food store!
By choosing to buy local and build a lasting relationship with their independent health stores, our mission is to encourage our pledgers to engage with their local shops and help raise awareness of veganism amongst current customers. We’re excited to showcase the best of our vegan brand partners; whose free samples will act as a delicious way to start an important conversation and get more people trying plant-based alternatives of their favourite foods!
Here’s What You Can Expect
As well as an array of delicious free samples, we’ll also be supplying each of our chosen stores with an essential kit to help entry-level vegans and new pledgers navigate around their stores. This will include vegan shopping swaps and essential tips for going vegan, with advice on topics including nutrition, meal plans and supplements. Our chosen health stores will then help guide each customer through a range of their products to set them up for Veganuary success!
We are aiming for health stores to embrace Veganuary with store advisers imparting their knowledge and expertise to participants, helping them transition into a vegan lifestyle with ease and simplicity. In this way, we can help build a reciprocally beneficial relationship between our pledgers and their local independent health stores, with everyone involved benefitting from increased sales and consumption of vegan items!
Taking Our Foodie Brand Partners Along With Us!
We believe that going vegan can be surprisingly easy, especially when you know you’ll have a great variety of substitutes and simple vegan swaps – which you can pick up right on your doorstep! The 15 health stores taking part in the tour will stock all five of our brand partners; Pulsin, Tideford, Follow Your Heart, Booja Booja and One Planet Pizza, which will be sampled at tour stops by our wonderfully-enthusiastic team.
Joe Hill, Co-Director of One Planet Pizza: “I can’t wait to get on the road for Veganuary with all these other leading vegan food brands! This will be a fantastic opportunity to bring together independent health stores, conscious shoppers and ethical brands – all across the country. This idea came about soon after we decided to take One Planet Pizza on a sampling tour across the UK for Veganuary. I thought, the more the merrier, right?’’
Our delicious free sampling will comprise an array of vegan essentials and convenient swaps. We will be showcasing a range of incredible pizzas from award-winning One Planet Pizza, indulgent ice cream from Booja Booja, wholesome soups by Tideford, energy bars and bites from Pulsin, and unbelievably delicious vegan mayonnaise ‘Veganaise’ by Follow Your Heart. These are some of the top-selling vegan brands in the UK, and we are thrilled to have them on board with us for our January tour!
Why Support Your Local Health Food Store?
Veganuary wants to support the local independent health stores, the people at the very heart and soul of healthy eating and veganism. Independent health shops have an incredible untapped potential in the vegan movement. These individuals have a huge wealth of knowledge and experience, and Veganuary is keen to help our pledgers discover all that these shops have to offer. We want to facilitate sustainable relationships between customers and businesses, centred on the education of all things plant-based.
“We are super excited to be welcoming Joe from One Planet Pizza back to Brontosaurus for the ultimate vegan food sampling experience – the Veganuary road trip! Being a vegan has never been easier (or so tasty!) especially with so many wonderful vegan companies there to support your journey. Why not challenge yourself to explore the vegan lifestyle by signing up to Veganuary for January and beyond?” Charlie from Brontosaurus Vegan Store, Swansea.
“If you’re on the brink of veganism, pop into your local independent health food store for a chat. Health store staff will make sure you don’t miss out on taste or nutrition essentials, whether you’re eating out, eating in, or on the go.” Cheryl Thallon, Sheaf Street Health Store, Daventry & NAHS Committee Member.
About the Brand Partners
The National Association of Health Stores has represented independent health stores for over 85 years, and during that time has championed healthy eating and lifestyle choices such as vegan, organic and holistic. Independent health stores have always been the beating heart of healthy holistic lifestyles where innovative new brands and movements are born and grow. Our members are passionate and committed to ensuring they offer their customers the best products available to enable them to live a healthy holistic lifestyle.
‘’The NAHS has long championed the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and we are delighted to help promote and support Veganuary. Our member store owners and staff (many of whom are already vegan veterans) look forward to helping participants transition to a new, healthier lifestyle in 2019.’’ Gary Trickett, NAHS Chairman.
Get a FREE storefinder listing on the NAHS website and FindMyHealthStore.co.uk
About One Planet Pizza
One Planet Pizza is the UK’s first frozen Vegan Pizza company, bringing you a classic range of multi-award-winning pizzas. Lovingly made from scratch by hand, we believe in using only the finest plant-based ingredients to create delicious pizzas that everyone can enjoy. Back in 2016, we became the first ever vegan company to crowdfund within the vegan/veggie community. We’re now owned by over 200 passionate shareholders across the world. Our mission is to show everyone that our pizzas are not only delicious, but also better your health, the animals and our planet.
‘’At One Planet Pizza, we believe the food choices we make are among the most significant environmental decisions we face on a daily basis. And so, naturally, our ethics have always aligned with those of independent health stores, that’s why we’ve always worked so closely with them and are now proudly stocked in over 350 across the whole country. The support and advice these stores can offer to people signing up to Veganuary is invaluable. That’s why we’re so keen to take our pizzas on the road to these stores with other leading vegan food brands, to show everyone how easy and great tasting going vegan can be! We’ll see you soon!’’ Joe Hill, Co-Director One Planet Pizza.
About Booja-Booja
Based in rural Norfolk, Booja-Booja are the creators of multi award-winning, organic, vegan, dairy free, gluten and soya free handmade chocolate truffles and creamy ice cream. For nearly 20 years, this boutique British company has delighted in transforming a handful of carefully chosen, simple ingredients into fabulous taste adventures. Perfect as a delicious dessert or treat at any time, Booja-Booja Dairy Free Ice Cream comes in six flavours and is made without refined sugar, using a minimum of four and a maximum of seven organic ingredients. It also has 70% less saturated fat than the leading dairy brand.
Kirsty Storr, Marketing Manager said: “Booja-Booja has a long history of supporting local independent health food and wholefood shops and works closely with them to promote Booja-Booja Dairy Free chocolate truffles and ice cream. We’re absolutely delighted to be working with Veganuary to highlight easy food switches to people thinking of becoming vegan and signposting them to their local independent store to stock up on everything they’ll need. In addition to stocking Booja-Booja Classic Chocolates and Dairy Free ice cream, independent health food shops on the high street are the only place where you can find the entire new Booja-Booja Chilled Chocolate Range including new flavours Honeycomb Caramel and Toffee Strudel, so they’re well worth a visit!’’
About Pulsin
Here at Pulsin we go above and beyond by creating deliciously nourishing Raw Choc Brownies, Kids’ Fruity Oat Bars, Fruit & Nut Bars, flavoured and unflavoured Protein Powders and Protein Boosters. Each range is carefully crafted to ensure it is full of the best quality ingredients nature can provide to help you maintain your natural rhythm and balance throughout the day. So, whether you’re battling the crowds on that rush hour train, bossing a mid-morning meeting or powering through your cross fit session, our products will help maintain your energy levels, increase your protein intake and enjoy some guilt-free snacking.
“Here at Pulsin we believe that everyone should have access to delicious and nutritious snacks regardless of their diet. Whether vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free – we believe that you should be able to nibble on indulgent brownies and delicious fruit bar and never worry about your protein intake. Throughout our history we’ve always worked very closely with independent health food stores, so being part of this exciting tour allows us to combine this rich history with our sponsorship of Veganuary. We are thrilled to be involved and can’t wait to encourage more customers to try and love our vegan products!’’ Steff Parker, Marketing Manager at Pulsin.
About Tideford
Creating nourishing food with organic ingredients has always been the Tideford way. Since 1996, we’ve been making homemade-style soups and sauces in our Devon kitchen, and in 2016 we took our love affair with vegetables to the next level, becoming he UK’s first organic, vegan and gluten-free brand. We believe that eating more veg and less meat is the best thing anyone can do for the planet: going vegan for just one day can save enough water to take 35 showers! The Tideford range is full of nutrients and flavour – like our new vibrant Beetroot + Curly Kale Soup, with handfuls of organic, British quinoa.
“At Tideford we believe the best thing anyone can do for the planet and their health is to eat more veg and less meat, and Veganuary 2019 is the perfect time to fit more plant-based food into your diet. We’re delighted to be able to reach even more people through Veganuary and Independent Health Stores, who both offer unparalleled advice and support when looking for great quality, delicious vegan food and drink”. Jenny, Marketing Manager at Tideford.
About Follow Your Heart
In 1970, four friends got together and created the Follow Your Heart Health Food Store and Restaurant in Canoga Park, California. From these small quarters, we served vegetarian soups, sandwiches, and salads to a growing vegetarian community. Eventually, the ever-increasing need for new vegan products led us to put our energy and ingenuity into creating our own line of all natural/vegan foods.
While the market and restaurant is still alive and well, today we produce our Follow Your Heart branded products in our state-of-the-art solar powered and zero waste certified manufacturing facility and distribute them in over 30 countries worldwide.
‘’Since the humble beginnings of Follow Your Heart we believe that all people deserve access to healthy food, that we should have compassion for all living things, and that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the environment. By participating in the Veganuary and National Association of Health Stores Tour we are helping people on their search for healthier plant-based options, while also supporting independent business. We hope our delicious products can become an easy swap for new consumers and create a lasting positive effect on the planet and all its inhabitants.’’ Sebastian Iowa, International Director Follow Your Heart.
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