A Spotlight on Vegan Companies and Businesses
throughout the United States and a few beyond - updated May 2006
by M. 'Butterflies' Katz
co-author of Incredibly Delicious; Recipes for a New Paradigm
by Gentle World www.gentleworld.org
| International Vegetarian Union (IVU) | |
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A Spotlight on Vegan Companies and Businesses throughout the United States and a few beyond - updated May 2006 by M. 'Butterflies' Katz co-author of Incredibly Delicious; Recipes for a New Paradigm by Gentle World www.gentleworld.org |
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Vegan Places to Eat in the USA: Blossoming Lotus restaurants are completely vegan. The owners are vegan. There are several owners ranging from 4 years vegan to 40+ years vegan. Not all of the staff is vegan. For nearly 4 years The Blossoming Lotus has been a full service vegan restaurant that is open for brunch, lunch and dinner. They offer "World Fusion Cuisine" combining recipes from all around the globe. They also have a nearby Bakery and Juice Bar; The Lotus Root, selling all vegan items along with a number of retail products. "We have an award winning cookbook with over 200 vegan and live food recipes called: 'Vegan World Fusion Cuisine'." "The CEO became vegan at 12 and has now been vegan for over 40 years. He became vegan to address some health issues and is now a true believer. He and The Blossoming Lotus founder worked together to start a place where others could dine with healthy and delicious food, and learn the importance of veganism for health, the environment, and the well being of animals." explains Dawn Jewell. The Blossoming Lotus web sites:
www.blossominglotus.com
and www.veganfusion.com
Bonobo's Restaurant is all vegan. The main principal of parent company is raw vegan for 7 years. The staff is not all vegan. Bonobo's has been in business since 2003. The owner wanted to give alternative food options to people with a mainstream diet. The owner became vegan due to the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of the vegan lifestyle. Their mission statement: "We are on a mission to let people know being a raw (live food) vegan doesn t mean eating like a rabbit and the ramifications of this lifestyle go way beyond just the food." Bonobo s Restaurant is located
at 18 E. 23 ST, N.Y.C .10010 Candle Cafe is a vegan and organic restaurant that has stayed in business for 20 years! The owner, Barat Potenza, has been vegan for 13 years. About 25% of the staff is vegan. Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson, co-owners, won $53,000 in N.Y. lottery in 1993. "That was our seed money, the rest is vegan history!" explains Bart. He continues: "In over 20 years, we have served some 3 million vegan meals. This has saved a lot of animals and people too!" They also have a best-selling cookbook. ORIGINAL LOCATION: 1307 Third
Avenue at 75th Street, New York, New York 10021 Organic Garden Cafe is completely vegan. The owner is a vegan for 8 years. Not all of the staff is vegan. The restaurant has been open for 6.5 years offering gourmet entrees, wraps, salads, juices, smoothies, pies, brownies, cookies, cream cheese, mostly raw food specialty items. Over 10 years ago, as a result of the battle of a loved one with cancer, founder Robert Reid's eyes were opened to the suffering of people, animals and the earth because of the many unhealthy dietary and farming practices, as well as the web of greed and misinformation surrounding these practices. Robert transitioned from a tax manager of a leasing company to restaurateur. First Robert took on a passionate study of holistic lifestyle and natural healing, obtaining several holistic certifications until settling on to his ultimate focus of Organic Vegan and Raw food healthy eating practices. This culminated in the opening of Organic Garden Cafe, the only vegan organic cafe in Greater Boston and only predominantly raw food restaurant in New England. "Just one meal at the Organic Garden switches a little light on that says 'wow , I didn't know you could prepare food like that, eat that way and feel so energized afterwards'. "Part of our mission statement is to prepare food in the purest most healthful way possible! Life is a tricky thing to generalize on, even diet. Certain truths seem fixed, yet others are somewhat bendable; what you believe you can make the truth. One truth I believe is certain is that animals feel pain and are beings that deserve humane treatment. Another is that producing meat for human consumption is wasteful of resources and polluting to the earth, and therefore unsustainable. I also believe a great amount of our diet should come from living foods to feel truly vibrant and yet I know spiritual masters can subsist on a few handfuls of rice a day. "When, what, how cooked
and how much varies for each individual, their body type and their activities.
Problem is most people's taste buds get thrown off with food addictions
and they loose this sensitivity and connection to their bodies innate
wisdom. This is where I believe raw foods come in handy. They help cleanse,
hydrate, alkalize, vitalize and restore sensitivity and proper taste,
then allowing the bodies wisdom to return. In the fall and winter I eat
more cooked foods in keeping with Ayurveda and warm my raw food smoothies
and morning fruits." says Robert Reid, Founder/Chef de Cuisine Real Food Daily is a restaurant committed to only serving 100% vegan foods, no animal or animal bi-products are used in their cooking. The owner and founder, Ann Gentry, keeps a vegan kitchen in her home and at work. She occasionally eats animal bi-products and eats fish a few times a month. About half of their staff of 100 people are vegan or vegetarian. In June 2006, they will be in business for 13 years. The restaurant came out of Ann Gentry's five year home delivery service in Los Angeles from 1988 - 1993 serving vegan foods made with organic produce and product. Ann saw a void in Los Angeles of not enough, if any, good quality full service restaurants serving high quality organic vegan food in an atmosphere of cleanliness and knowledgeable and helpful service. The restaurant has two locations:
414 North La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90048 Phone: (310) 289 9910
Sage Cafe is located in the midtown area of downtown Salt Lake City, with views of snow capped peaks of the nearby Wastach Mountains, a perennial garden landscape. It is family-owned and in business for 9 years. The executive chef and founder, Ian Brandt, has been a vegan for 8 years. About 60% of the staff is vegan. No animal products are used in any preparations. The cafe (named after the owner s son) and catering business is a range of vegan comfort food to pure raw foods, and a pizza night! A message from Ian: "Both of my grandmothers are not on this planet today but their legacy of land stewards will always carry with me. I hope to share their message to our customers" He also says: "Many of our guests are not vegetarian - approximately 75%! We have had many say that if they could prepare cuisine as great as Sage's Cafe they would eat vegan every day!" Sage Cafe is located at 473
East 300 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Spiral Diner "We ONLY sell vegan products. This includes NO refined sugar, honey, bee pollen, or anything tested on animals (including the cleaning products we use in the 'back-of-the-house'). We even triple check all our beers and wines to assure that they are not processed with any animal ingredients." says Amy NcNutt, the owner. Amy has been a vegan for about 6 years and vegetarian for about 14 years. Almost all the staff is vegan. Out of 15 employees, a few are vegetarian, and only one is neither vegan or vegetarian. A few people started working as non-veg and have since switched. They opened for business August 21, 2002. They offer a full vegan menu including fair trade coffee drinks, beer, wine, and desserts. They sell packaged food items, vegan pet food, cleaning products and beauty care products. In addition, they also have a line of jarred food called 'Spiral' in The House for people wanting to take food with them. About 50-75% of ingredients are organic, as well. I quote the last two lines of her mission statement: "Spiral Diner and Bakery (the name inspired by the lyrics of the song Lateralus) hopes to advance the spiraling out of compassion and awareness that is already in progress." Spiral Diner & Bakery is
located at 1314 West Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth, TX. 76110 Phone: (817)
3.EatVeg E-mail: veg@spiraldiner.com The Health Deli is a vegan restaurant located in the unlikely town of St. George, Utah. The owners, Elaine French and her husband are both vegan. Elaine has been vegan for 25 years. They've been in business since December 2002 serving soups, chili, hummus and falafel, sandwiches, veggie burgers, entrees and desserts; all low fat and they don t cook with oil. Elaine's becoming vegan was a gradual progression from reading Diet for a Small Planet, then Laurel's Kitchen, then The Pritikin Program, then working for Dr. John McDougall. The Health Deli provides meals
for The Body Shop; a vegan spa in St. George. The Health Deli is located
at 95 West 700 South, St. George, UT. 84770 Veggie Era is completely vegan. "With respect for all life, we proudly serve all dishes with a lot of love and free of meat, poultry, fish, egg, dairy, MSG and honey; low fat and no cholesterol." they explain. "We want people to be vegan and tell people that vegan food is healthy and delicious." They've been in business 6 years featuring vegan dishes, Savory Chinese, Thai and Indonesian vegan dishes, Catering and Party Platters. They make imitation meat products: seitan (wheat gluten) and TVP (textured vegetable protein) in the following forms: Vegan Chicken Breast, Vegan Chicken Nugget, Vegan Fish Steak and Vegan ham, Chick'n less Potato Curry, Lemon Grass Chick'n less, Saut Garlic Beef-less, Scottie's Crazy Chick'n less Sweet yet Spicy Chick'n less , and Harmony Tofu. Veggie Era is located at 903B
West Foothill Blvd., Upland, CA. 91786 |
