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Are more mainstream QSR plant-based offerings sucking sales from vegan restaurants?

Graphic: iStock

January 10, 2020

The increasing presence of plant-based options across the QSR sector appears to be draining some business away from all-vegan and all-vegetarian brands, according to some recent research from foot traffic analytics platform Placer.ai. 

Placer.ai released findings of a week-long analysis of traffic in the vegan restaurant category, with a focus on vegan brands Veggie Grill, Loving Hut and Native Foods, which all qualify as fast casual brands, a service category that Placer.ai also indicates is starting to show some traffic "bleed." 

In its two-year data analysis, Placer.ai found that foot traffic from Jan. 1, 2017 through Nov. 30, 2019 at both Veggie Grill and Loving Hut showed a steady decline, with a noticeable drop at Veggie Grill year-over-year. Native Foods did see an overall traffic increase of just under 1% from 2018 to 2019. 

Placer.ai said that the findings suggest that one of the top risks to vegan-focused restauants like the three tracked may actually not be the brands' own decreasing popularity, but the competition such brands are now getting from the growing inclusion of vegan-friendly options at mainstream restaurant chains.

"Leading QSR brands like McDonalds, Burger King, and Dunkin are adding more vegan-friendly options to their menus, limiting the need to only frequent fully vegan chains," Placer.ai Vice President of Marketing Ethan Chernofsky told QSRweb. "Additionally, there is a wider trend away from fast casual, sitdown restaurants and more to QSR and home-cooked meals. There is an increasing availability of vegan options across the food and restaurant space and this is likely impacting traffic to specialty chains."