World first: Ovolo commits to 100 per cent plant led menu

Ovolo Hotels has become the first hotel brand to commit to a vegetarian-led offering across its hotel restaurants, globally.

The announcement signifies a further shift for the designer hotel collection, following the success of its ‘Year of the Veg’ campaign, which launched in October 2020, where venues transitioned to a vegetarian-only offering for an initial 365 days, serving up vibrant vegetarian and plant-based cuisine.

“Meat is being removed for a second year in a row at Ovolo Hotels. With a number of our Ovolo venues already serving plant-based cuisine, we have decided to go the full 100 per cent,” Ovolo Group’s founder and CEO, Girish Jhunjhnuwala said.

“It’s been a strategic move, but Ovolo prides itself on being an industry leader. We believe that the world changes constantly; therefore we continue to evolve. We want to ensure we are doing our bit to help preserve our environment, promote healthy eating and enhance the image of amazing vegetarian and plant-based dining.”

Ovolo’s Group creative culinary Partner, Ian Curley has worked with the hotels’ restaurants across the group including Hong Kong, Australia and Bali to take the ‘Plant’d’ Veg Pledge. All venues will launch with new menus that are cruelty-free and planet-friendly.

Inspired by increasing consumer interest in the many benefits of a plant-based diet, this change is expected to be welcomed by guests while promoting an ‘eating good to feel good’ mentality.

“Our move to vegetarian dining has been even more successful than we anticipated, and we now find ourselves part of a new wave of plant-based pioneers,” Curley said.

“The one big lesson we have learned from our bold experiment: never underestimate your guests. A key focus for us has been ensuring we are creating something that still appeals to everyone – from vegans to flexitarians, and those who are simply keen on expanding their palette.

“We are lucky enough to be working with some incredible suppliers across the roll-out who share our passion for offering nutritious, delicious and sustainable food solutions. Companies such as V2 are really expanding peoples’ minds in terms of what is possible with plant-based cuisine, and make it an easy entry point for those curious about trying some vegan spins on classic dishes.”

The Ovolo team have created a Plant’d Playbook white paper, which includes information on the reasons the company has made the switch with their menus; what to know before you go veg; tips on defining plant-led menus; and learnings along the way.

The white paper will be publicly available via Ovolo’s Plant’d webpage to support companies looking to move to a vegetarian-led philosophy and encouraging industry collaboration.

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