‘I'm losing customers': Vegan restaurant owner adds meat to menu to avoid closure

In recent months, he has launched a 20% discount on weekdays, introduced a £10 breakfast and coffee deal and a ‘2 for 1' pizza offer in a bid to raise footfall.

However, Norouznia said the rising cost of ingredients had made discounts hard to justify, with the price of maple syrup jumping from £12 to £19/litre, cooking oil increasing from £27 to £43/ for five litres, and organic tofu rising from £1.80 to £2.50.

He told The Caterer: "We've tried a lot of things. Changing the menu was my ultimate solution. I know it will make some people feel sad – I'm not feeling happy as well – but we need to keep the business up and running.

"I have a family with three kids, and other families are living from this business, so rather than close the business completely and do something else, I'd rather change the menu."

Online response

When he announced the change on social media, Norouznia said he was met with some positive feedback, as well as a "nasty" online backlash over his decision.

He said he struggled with critical comments from the vegan community as many were from people "who have not run their own business and are not in the hospitality sector".

"Trust me, I cannot even stand the smell of the meat when it's cooked," he added.

In December, Norouznia was scheduled to host a local ‘vegan night' gathering, but only three people turned up. He said: "[The organiser] almost cried. Where are these vegans? Where are the vegan people that support us?"

Norouznia said he knew of businesses nearby that started out as exclusively plant-based but made the transition to an omnivorous menu to make ends meet.

"They were telling me from day one we will end up where we are now, but at the time I was like: ‘No, I'm going to make it different.' But less than 50% of our customers are vegan. We don't have many vegan people here. All the other nearby cafés have vegan options, but I'm not putting meat on like everyone else, so I'm losing customers," he said.

There are no requirements for staff at his restaurant to be vegan, so he expects the transition to a meat-inclusive menu to be reasonably smooth. Additions are set to include eggs-based breakfast dishes, a meat platter and Greek gyros with the option to add pork or chicken.

He said the change will likely take place in the first few weeks of February, once new kitchen equipment arrives to ensure a cross-contamination-free workspace. It will cost Norouznia between £2,000 and £3,000 upfront, but he said it would be a worthwhile investment.

"I am vegan for my reasons. I tried to make a restaurant according to my belief, but the market is different. We have to consider the area of the business. Three years, we tried. But it's not going to work. I don't want the ship to sink, so I will try to save it."

The closure of a raft of high-profile independent restaurants during the first month of the year has sounded the alarm over the difficulties facing small businesses. These have included Simon Rimmer's vegetarian restaurant Greens in Didsbury, Manchester, which shut its doors after 33 years of trading after facing a 35% hike in its rent.

Photography: Instagram/@nomasgastrobar