Be part of the dining revolution with Viva!’s restaurant campaign 50by25

Viva! has just launched a pioneering sustainable dining campaign, backed by leaders in the restaurant and plant-based industries. Ride on the wave of culinary change as we work towards making 50 per cent of every menu vegan by the end of 2025 to save our planet.

It’s time for a dining revolution. The climate is in crisis, forests are being torched to graze and grow fodder for farmed animals, and wildlife worldwide are on the brink of extinction. At the same time, our oceans are collapsing from overfishing and factory farms are poisoning our waterways. Vegan diets are a key part of the solution to these crises.

Viva!’s 50by25 campaign focuses on fixing our current harmful food habits, laying the foundation for a sustainable, healthy and kinder vegan food future. We have the power to shape a plant-forward and internationally pioneering hospitality sector in the UK that benefits our planet, health and animals. A key player in helping shape this new reality are restaurants, simply by expanding the vegan options on their menus.

On average we eat out 1.5 times a week in the UK – this gives our nation’s eateries a hugely influential platform to provide planet-friendly options that combat the climate and ecological crises while helping shape people’s eating habits and starting crucial conversations on why plant-based diets are better for our planet. By showcasing to the public the wide variety of tasty options there can be for them to try themselves, this campaign reaches beyond restaurants and into people’s homes.

And even if people just start by choosing vegan when eating out – this can still have a massive impact! By choosing a vegan option when eating out, it could cut an individual dishes:

And, if the whole UK population chose the vegan option when dining out for a year, it would save 515 million animals!

New research from the 50by25  team has found that the UK public want restaurants to take responsibility by serving environmentally friendly food. In a recent poll of 2,000 people – half of whom were vegan – it was found that 79% of the entire group polled feel it is important that restaurants limit their impact on the world through the food they serve. The simple solution – putting more plants on plates! Restaurants can pave the way for planet-friendly diets in the UK and Viva! is here to help them on their journey.

Plant-based Supporters

To support this campaign, Viva! has partnered with top plant-based food brands Beyond Meat, Wicked Kitchen, Planted and GOSH! to help provide industry insight to restaurants. Also, wagamama has provided backing for the campaign, having already made its menu 50 per cent plant-based and are now joining our call for other restaurants to follow suit. Alongside them, we have a growing supporter base of plant-based food companies – and the expert support doesn’t stop there!

We are honoured to have professional chefs from wagamama, Steven Mangleshot, Tendril and Gauthier Soho, Alexis Gauthier, onboard – who have led the way in plant-based dining in the UK and who have offered to help others awaken their creativity and fill in the gaps when you take out the animals. Derek Sarno, who developed Wicked Kitchen and Tesco’s Plant Chef range and made Tesco the plant-based leading retailer since 2018, also joins Viva!’s prestigious line-up alongside British Environmentalist, George Monbiot. Explore all the campaign supporters here.

“Chefs are the master artists of flavour, with restaurants as their canvases. By crafting plant-based dishes that put taste and satisfaction front and centre, chefs and restaurants can profoundly shift eating habits and attract a new wave of devoted customers. These plant-based menu items aren’t just alternatives; they’re top picks. This is where true innovation blossoms. It’s where sustainability pairs with ‘surprise and delight’, and what’s been missing are the culinary leaders who truly understand taste, choice and impact. In my journey, I’ve witnessed the magic chefs create with whole foods and ground-breaking plant-based ingredients. The 50by25 initiative is our call to action. By aiming for menus with 50% plant-based options by 2025, chefs, restaurants, and the entire food service industry can unite to pave the way for a future that’s as mouth-watering as it is sustainable.” Derek Sarno, Plant-based Chef and Co-Founder, Wicked Kitchen

Across the campaign, Viva! will be celebrating the achievements of chain restaurants through our leaderboard, ranking the top plant-varied chains in the UK. While we will be tracking the success of chains, this campaign has been set up to support restaurants of all sizes – showcasing how more vegan options can be good for our planet and good for business.

Any size establishment can sign up and access support on how to increase their plant-based menu offerings. And the demand is there, with 69% of all people in the 50by25 poll believing it’s important to include a wide variety of plant-based options at restaurants!

Content will include advice and insights from leaders across the industry, including famous consulting chefs and world-renowned plant-based producers. Participating restaurants will also get a free Menu Impact Score from the UK’s leading carbon labelling company, My Emissions.

So, if you know a restaurant that you think should sign up, help them get a taste of the action by signposting them to 50by25!

How YOU can get a taste of the action!

We have a variety of actions to help you urge your favourite restaurants to join the planet-friendly revolution by balancing their menus through 50by25. Go to our individual action page to find out more and help build a sustainable world!