One of the UK’s largest high street coffee chains, Costa Coffee, have announced they will be adding to their vegan selection.
Currently the vegan options on Costa’s menu are far from impressive, the chain has introduced new coconut milk based drinks, but has only a few snacks on offer and a lunch option of tomato and basil soup. However, the company is proving they are moving with the times and will be adding to their vegan offerings over the next few months.
The decision to introduce more vegan options comes after the animal rights organization, Animal Aid, wrote to the company informing them their current selection was unacceptable. Animal Aid told Costa that they needed to up their game in terms of their vegan menu and roll out more choices to their stores. The high street giant listened and will be bringing out a vegan-friendly Jam Oaty Bake in March and a Three Bean wrap in May.
The campaign manager for Animal Aid, Tod Bradbury, said of the decision, ‘we are delighted to hear that Costa Coffee will be launching new vegan options this year.’ He added, ‘Once launched, every major coffee chain in the UK will offer a vegan lunch option. This shows how much veganism is growing, and how mainstream it has become.’
With recent statistics from Kantar World Panel showing that plant-based diets are increasingly becoming the norm in the UK, Costa’s new additions have arrived just in time. In comparison with 2015, the report revealed that in 2017 the citizens of the UK had consumed 87 million more entirely animal-product free meals.
However, Costa Coffee are still lagging behind rivals Starbucks and Pret. The former has recently introduced more options for vegans, including a BBQ jackfruit wrap, and the latter is leading the way by opening exclusively veggie stores across the country. The third Veggie Pret location was announced in October of last year. The CEO of the chain revealed that the top selling items in Veggie Pret are vegan, he said, ‘the top selling eight new products at Veggie Pret are all vegan, which either shows that vegan dishes can be just as delicious as veggie dishes, or we have underestimated how strong the vegan movement is.’
Image Credit: Costa Coffee | hannah_jane_ryan
