VEGAN SUPERMARKET TO OPEN IN LONDON! VEGANZ

69 Replies

Dear Vegans… try to imagine a grocery shopping trip where you don’t have to tiresomely check the ingredients of every item you pick up.

Veganz vegan supermarketYou know the drill – you look for the Vegan symbol, most of the time it’s not there, so then you check the entire list of ingredients. Even after this you feel unsure if it is definitely vegan — have they listed all the ingredients? Have they made a mistake? If it is vegan-friendly, why don’t they label it? Hmm, is it safe to buy this?

So imagine a supermarket where you could safely buy every item, where EVERYTHING is vegan. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous; there couldn’t possibly be such a place’ you say. I wouldn’t joke about something so wonderful…


Leave us your email address to we can notify you when Veganz launch all across Europe!

veganz vegan supermarketI am ecstatic to discover that as of 2014 things are changing for us London vegans. A LARGE FULLY FLEDGED VEGAN SUPERMARKET WILL OPEN IN LONDON (as well as many other European cities)! My husband (who is a writer) tells me that capital letters represent shouting – good, I’d like to shout about this as loud as I can, both inside computer land and out in the real world.

There are other supermarkets in the UK that provide a plethora of vegan products – not just health food shops like Holland & Barratt, Wholefoods and Planet Organic, but also the mainstream chains like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Although with time some of these supermarkets are providing an impressive variety of vegan goods, these are mixed in with non-vegan items and in my experience not always labelled 100% correctly, causing some nervousness in my purchases.

So, instead of shouting with joy in the street, I contained myself long enough to give Veganz (theVeganz vegan supermarket German company behind the new supermarkets) a call to find out more. Due to my overexcitement and persistence, I was lucky enough to get an interview with the marketing manager Ivonne Meyer and the founder Jan Bredack.

It came as no surprise to me to learn that Veganz is a labour of love, but also brings a fiercely ambitious and entrepreneurial spirit. Founder Jan was a lifelong employee of luxury car manufacturer Daimler, rising to technical director and running the company’s Russian manufacturing facility. Around the same time, he met the love of his life and she just happened to be a vegetarian. She spurred him to ‘question the cruelty surrounding eating meat and fish’ so the couple soon began to live vegan. They saw how difficult it was to buy vegan items so Jan took a risk on a new venture — he invested his money to build the first vegan supermarket in Berlin.  And so Veganz was born in 2011. Today, Veganz has four stores, and big plans to expand across Europe.

My longest chat was with Veganz’s marketing manager, Ivonne Meyer. Here’s what she had to say:

TheAllAnimalVegan: Firstly, what are the attitudes you see towards veganism in Germany?
Ivonne Meyer: “Veganism is growing in popularity, especially in the cities – Berlin seems to be a vegan paradise filled with vegan shops and cafes. Berlin has 21 vegan restaurants, and more are opening all the time. Being vegan is definitely ‘cool’ right now in German cities. Everyone asks in the non-vegan restaurants ‘do you have vegan food?’ – there is huge demand and it’s quickly becoming more mainstream.

TAAV: How do non-vegans view your stores? Do they shop in them too?
IV: Yes, they do! Our customers are mainly people who are highly eco-aware, people who are changing their diet for health reasons or allergies, people who want to lose weight and get fit, and of course vegetarians and vegans.  Most new customers are very impressed by the huge product range and many things they haven’t seen before (including meat, fish and cheese alternatives).

TAAV: Is vegan retailing profitable for you?
IV: Yes, it is. I can’t go into specifics s but Jan’s [Veganz’s founder] risky investment was a good decision.

TAAV: What are Veganz expansion plans?
IV: This year we will be opening stores in Munich, Prague and Vienna, and then in 2014 we plan to open in Leipzig, Essen, Cologne, Budapest, and of course London!

TAAV: How many staff work for Veganz?
IV: Currently 53, and most are vegan… but it’s not a requirement of course!

This week, by fate, I met two London vegans – Hayley and Darrell, who had recently travelled tovegan cupcakes

Berlin and sampled what Veganz had to offer.  Hayley, from Greek Animal Rescue tells me that Veganz was amazing, she found a great selection of vegan delights she had never seen before.  Hayley also mentioned that the Berlin store has a very good café in it. I’m sure she won’t mind me mentioning that she found the food to be so good in Veganz that she even put on weight that week as she kept going back for more!

vegan cakesAs well as being happy that we are getting Veganz in London it was great to hear from Jan and Ivonne, two people that are building a successful vegan business and demonstrating how veganism is growing.  It seems to me that somehow we vegans have become the new cool kids of Europe. If you’re not vegan, you’re not on trend.

Please do check out the Veganz website, and find them on Twitter and Facebook. Like me, we will all have to anxiously anticipate further news on the arrival of the stores in 2014. I can’t wait!

Leave us your email address to we can notify you when Veganz launch!

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69 thoughts on “VEGAN SUPERMARKET TO OPEN IN LONDON! VEGANZ”

  6. Christina

    I live close to Veganz in Berlin and love to do my shopping there or have coffee and some cake and enjoy spending time with the people who try out the café.
    Berlin really is vegan-friendly and has some great places to go if you wanna be sure it’s all vegan but still want your meal to be creative and tasteful.
    By the way, the Veganz supermarkets also have attached vegan shoe shops!

    Reply ↓
    1. Numa

      As part of customer service the lovely people working
      at Planet Organic in Islington told me about the proposed
      opening of your shop in London. That’s great news.
      Sadly, I no longer visit my home town of Berlin as frequently
      as I would like. Yes, we need to know the address of your
      store in London. Please let us know as soon as you can.

      Reply ↓

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  12. Kat

    Jealous in America! I live in North Carolina and being vegan sometimes can be near impossible. Everything is coated/soaked/fried with butter, milk, anything that comes from animals. I would LOVE to have a Veganz in the US! <3

    Reply ↓
  19. Jenny

    So wonderful to see veganism spreading worldwide! I hope you come to Ireland as well! Dublin has health food shops and more vegan restaurants popping up (we have about 6 with a couple more in the works), but no dedicated supermarket. Cork, Galway, and Belfast have a few vegan restaurants between them but outside of those it’s very hard to find vegan options without bringing your own food. Kudos Veganz on the good work!

    Reply ↓
  22. VeganSpirit

    Come to Krakow, our community is still growing, but with your strong support in our shopping, we can grow even faster – we NEED you!

    Reply ↓
  24. bethie.Ⓥ (@empressbethie)

    I went to Berlin Veganz in summer. It is truly spectacular. They do everything down to vegan cornetto style ice creams, ravioli in a jar and tofurky microwave pizza. Cannot wait for one in England. Please come to the west midlands too! xx

    Reply ↓

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  29. flavourphotos

    Hi Holly, I’m researching an article and came across your interview with Yvonne Meyer from Veganz. Would you be happy for me to quote her answer about their expansion plans and being vegan in Berlin? It would fit perfectly! I’m really pleased that I stumbled across your blog and look forward to reading more. Chava

    PS: So sorry to read about your laptop – looks awful!

    Reply ↓
    1. TheAllAnimalVegan Post author

      Hi Chava,

      Thank you for your message, I’m glad you like the article.

      I would be very happy for you to use some interview quotes from my article provided you reference my website as where the information is from.

      Please do send me a link to your article once it is written and I will tweet it for you etc too :)

      Reply ↓
      1. flavourphotos

        Brilliant, thank you very much for that. The article is for Cook Vegetarian mag and I will of course include my wonderful source :-)
        Sometimes they do edit things, but usually they publish my writing pretty much as I sent it. I’ll be in touch soon. Warm regards, Chava

        Reply ↓

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  35. Debra Sabah Press

    We need you in Berkeley, CA. There’s a vegan market in so cal (Viva La Vegan) but nothing up here. We have lots of great restaurants but no market. Would love a vegan department/superstore that supplied everything– food, clothes, art supplies, cleaning stuff, furniture, etc.

    Reply ↓

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  39. Arthur Poletti

    The new ALL VEGAN supermarket in London will be a huge success setting the precedent and the example for many cities throughout Europe, and then the world, to emulate. The London Supermarket will mark the beginning of the end of animal flesh and dairy products being sold in most or all supermarkets in London.

    Reply ↓

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  42. sande

    London is a longgggggg trip away by train for me – any chance of opening a store down in Brighton/Worthing area? If so, i will shop there for sure!!

    Reply ↓

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  54. Rubi

    Ever since I went vegan I have the idea of opening a vegan grocery store along with a plaza (clothing boutique, house hold items even restaurants) thing is I’m skeptic of the demand due to living in south Texas where ppl really love their meat due to the culture mostly but reading this has boost my confidence. The public needs veganism for our health,environment, and our animals :) so glad veganism is spreading!!

    Reply ↓

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