The effects of Veganuary on meal choices in workplace canteens: an interrupted time series analysis
Creators: name: Zhuo, Shi
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences

description: Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to go vegan each January. Veganuary is also the name of their annual campaign. Since January 2014, the number of people taking part in the initiative has risen year-on-year: in 2022, more than 629,000 participants officially signed up on the Veganuary website. Furthermore, the number of unofficial participants is estimated to be ten times greater. Given Veganuary’s success, many food businesses, workplaces and caterers have used this annual event to launch their own promotions to encourage the consumption of plant-based options. In the UK, a large contract catering company – servicing numerous local and national businesses – launched one such promotion in 2019 and repeated it annually. This promotion is compliant with the company’s net zero commitments: specifically, to replace 40% of the animal-based foods throughout its supply chain with alternative proteins by 2030. The company sees this promotion as a perfect opportunity to target ‘innovation’ – new foods that are increasingly gaining popularity – and raising awareness for ongoing consumption beyond January. Throughout January, the company launches new plant-based products (for example, vegan pastries, vegan sausage baps). The company uses their 100% plant-based food concept Plantilicious to promote products on-site. They also emphasis the benefits of plant-based meals via their Wellness Wednesday and Eco Thursday campaigns, in which sites run sampling activity and showcase Plantilicious dishes. These activities focus on product awareness (rather than using financial mechanisms such as price discounts). Promotional messages are kept simple and positive, presenting plant-based food as containing all the ingredients required for a healthy diet. For example, in one promotion, rather than a focus on the absence of meat, emphasis was placed on the amount of protein in the meal. Veganuary activities start on the first working Monday in January and last until February 1st. Veganuary products/recipes continue for the 3-month menu cycle until end of March. The company promotes plant based eating all year round using the Plantilicious concept and Eco Thursday awareness activity to promote specific recipes, but at a lower frequency and focus compared to in Veganuary. During Veganuary, Plantilicious is implemented consistently across the business sites, although messaging and food offers differs slightly across business sites and industry environments to ensure the differing needs of the workforce are accommodated. As customer demand for plant-based meals – and the company’s commitment to sustainability – has increased over the last few years, there has been an increase in the volume of available plant-based recipes, which has been achieved through a combination of recipe reformulation and food innovation. Kantar Public’s Behavioural Practice has been provided with access to the catering company’s sales data from 2017 to 2022. Given this, we have a rare opportunity to assess both the immediate and longer-term effects of annually repeated promotions to promote sustainable eating. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in the UK. Please see the attachment for more information on the background of the study.