Local pizzeria makes vegan shift to menu amid massive demand

 

By Kamryn Cusumano

A local pizzeria is catering to a growing community of vegans in Windsor after seeing an unimaginable growth of vegan food sales and expects the trend to continue.

Canadians are looking for more plant-based food options and Bull’s Eye South Windsor is happy to meet the demand. Bull’s Eye franchise owner Aaron Reimneitz was surprised when his vegan options began quickly outselling his non-vegan items. He believes the trend will continue with more people choosing healthier and environmentally conscious options.

“The response has been unimaginable,” said Reimneitz. “I thought it would not kick up sales, I just did it because I’ve always had vegan options at my other locations. It’s just nothing like I’ve ever expected.”

Reimneitz has been working in the restaurant industry since he was 17. He opened his own Bull’s Eye pizza franchise in South Windsor in March. He expected to be slinging traditional pizza, but things took a shift when he accidentally created a vegan gravy which was met with an unexpected response from customers.

“I wanted to do a vegetarian gravy that turned out vegan,” said Reimneitz. “I posted it on Facebook and the poutine took off.”

Within 11 minutes he had the first poutine order and two and a half hours later he was completely sold out.

“It was crazy to begin with,” said Reimneitz. “I thought, okay I’ll just make a few people happy. I was unaware of vegans of Windsor at that point.”

After multiple requests to turn classic Bull’s Eye favourites into vegan items, Reimneitz saw an opportunity to capitalize on the demand. He launched a full vegan menu by the end of May and says every item on the menu can be made vegan.

Bull’s Eye’s vegan food sales have surpassed regular item sales by more than 50 per cent every week. Reimneitz feels he has tapped into an underdeveloped market considering the rising growth of people seeking plant-based options.

According to research conducted at Dalhousie University, vegetarians and vegans now account for nearly 10 per cent of Canada’s population, which is encouraging restaurants and the meat and dairy industry to find new approaches. In Canada, 2.3 million people consider themselves vegetarians, an increase from 15 years ago when 900,000 people considered themselves vegetarian. Today 850,000 of Canadians consider themselves vegan. This makes 9.4 per cent of the Canadian population and the majority of which are under the age of 35.

Being active on social media has allowed Reimneitz to communicate with the younger demographic that makes up most of his vegan food sales. He estimates most of his vegan sales are among the ages of 18-35 where he sees “huge numbers.”

Bull’s Eye has partnered with other local millennial owned vegan companies in Windsor to diversify their menu. Vegan donuts are offered by Plantjoy, vegan sushi by the Avocado Pit and a cashew based cheese by the Vegan Gardiners.

“We’re all young 20-somethings getting out there working together in the vegan community,” said Reimneitz, “It’s exploding now in numbers.”

Reimneitz is confident the trend is here to stay with people becoming more aware of environmental and animal welfare issues.

“I am 100 per cent expecting the trend to continue,” said Reimneitz. “I’m having customers see those stats, and they want to eat the same junk food but they want to be eco-friendly so I think that has a lot to do with it. Accessibility to the product, five years ago you couldn’t get anything like this.”

Reimneitz believes customers are driven to seek alternatives since becoming more aware of the environmental impact of the meat and dairy industry.

Andrea Docherty is a registered dietician in Windsor and has seen an increase in clients asking about the vegan diet. She says the diet itself can be nutritionally balanced for any population.

“The only thing is it does take a lot of extra planning and careful consideration of your diet to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need,” said Docherty about the vegan diet. “I would recommend a vegan diet to someone if they know the risks, they may be low in nutrients.”

Docherty recommends her clients eat one or two completely vegan or vegetarian meals every week.

“A vegan diet that is well-balanced can be nutritionally adequate,” said Docherty. “But if someone is just eliminating animal proteins and not replacing it with the right types of foods or eating a lot of processed vegan foods that are out there, it may not necessarily be healthier than a whole foods diet that includes meat.”

According to Docherty, there has been a lot of research supporting the vegan diet as a way of lowering risks of heart disease, diabetes and maintaining a healthy weight.

Overall she believes diet should be individualized and recommends finding a diet that is well-balanced and suits your lifestyle.