How to Run a Cost-Effective Veganuary Menu

Veganuary isn’t a niche moment anymore. In 2024 an estimated 25 million people worldwide got involved, and over 1.8 million used Veganuary’s own resources to try vegan for the month. (source: Veganuary)

For operators, that means January is now a serious opportunity: new guests, returning regulars with new habits, and a chance to show you can deliver plant-based dishes that feel premium but are still cost-effective behind the scenes.

Here are six practical ways to build a Veganuary menu that protects your margins and keeps guests excited.

1. Build your menu around naturally low-cost heroes

Before you start with expensive meat substitutes, look at the best value ingredients you already buy:

• Beans for stews or baked dishes

• Lentils for soups and salads (think fakés soupa or fakosalata)

• Chickpeas for creamy hummus or revithada (slow-baked chickpeas with herbs)

• Aubergines, courgettes, and peppers for moussaka-style bakes or mezze trays

These ingredients are high-protein, filling, and ideal for big-batch cooking, perfect for foodservice. Research commissioned by Veganuary found that plant-based meals eaten at home can be around 40% cheaper than meat or fish-based equivalents. Leaning into these naturally vegan ingredients helps you keep food cost low while still serving dishes that feel generous and filling.

Menu ideas:

• Greek lentil and tomato stew with oregano & extra virgin olive oil

• Baked gigantes with tomato sauce and herbs

• Grilled courgettes with vegan tzatziki

• Roasted winter vegetable grain bowl with tahini dressing

Price them as hearty mains and you’ll often see better margins than like-for-like meat dishes.

2. Make frozen your secret weapon

Frozen isn’t a compromise, especially in January.

Because vegetables are usually frozen shortly after harvest, many retain as many nutrients as fresh, sometimes more, especially compared to “fresh” produce that’s been sitting in storage and transit for days. (source: British Heart Foundation)

For a cost-effective Veganuary:

• Use frozen veg for soups, spanakorizo (spinach rice), pies, fajita mixes and sides – consistent quality and less waste.

• Consider frozen pre-prepared items (desserts, sides, salad components) that are already portion-controlled.

• Use frozen fruit for breakfast pots, smoothies and desserts when soft fruit is expensive.

Benefits:

• Buy exactly what you need.

• Only defrost what you’ll actually sell.

• Cut prep time and labour during your quietest, tightest month.

3. Cross-utilise ingredients for better margins

Veganuary doesn’t have to mean a huge new buying list. Instead, look at how many dishes can share the same core ingredients. For example, olive oil, oregano, tomato, and lemon go with almost everything.

With just a few shared items you can create multiple vegan dishes:

• Briam (oven-roasted veg with herbs and tomato)

• Gemista (stuffed peppers and tomatoes with rice and herbs)

• Vegan pita wraps with grilled vegetables and hummus

• Greek mezze platters with olives, dolmades, roasted chickpeas, and bread

The more overlap you build into your recipes, the better you’ll:

• Reduce waste

• Keep storage simple

• Protect margins if prices rise during the month

It also makes training easier, your team are learning techniques, not 20 completely different recipes.

4. Veganise your best sellers, don’t reinvent your whole menu

Creating a whole separate vegan menu from scratch is expensive and risky. A smarter move is to look at your top-selling dishes and ask:

“How can I offer a plant-based version that feels familiar but still exciting?”

Many brands are doing exactly this, using their popular dishes as a blueprint for vegan versions so they can ride the Veganuary wave without bloating their SKU list. (source: access)

Examples:

• Chicken gyros → Vegan gyros made with grilled mushrooms or seitan, served in pita with vegan tzatziki.

• Beef burger → Greek vegan burger with lentils, chickpeas, oregano, and a slice of vegan “feta.”

• Cheesy pie → Vegan spanakopita made with olive oil pastry and dairy-free spinach filling.

You’re not asking customers to “learn” a whole new menu, just to try a twist on something they already trust.

5. Focus on presentation and price perception

Veganuary is a good time to tidy up your menu. Before you launch, pull a quick report (or even a manual tally) on:

• Dishes with high food cost and low sales

• Items that take disproportionate prep time

• Recipes that need lots of niche ingredients

Consider temporarily removing or re-engineering these, and instead spotlight the dishes that:

• Use shared ingredients

• Have good margins

• Are easy for the kitchen to execute consistently

Then, make sure your plant-based options are easy to find and easy to choose:

• Give your best vegan main a prime position on the menu.

• Use clear language focusing on flavour or inspiration first (“Santorini-style”, “Aegean herbs”, “slow-cooked”, “charred”, “crispy”) rather than just “vegan”.

• Avoid lining up prices in one obvious column, which can push guests straight to the cheapest items.

With cost of living still in play, value matters but “value” means generous, tasty, and reliable, not just cheap. Plant-based can tick all of those boxes when the menu is designed well. (source: The Guardian)

6. Train your team on the story behind the food

Your Veganuary offer only works if guests hear about it. A short briefing with your front-of-house team can make a big difference.

Give them:

• 2–3 hero dishes to recommend and a simple way to describe each, like “This recipe comes from a classic Greek village dish.”

• A couple of benefit lines they can drop into conversation, like “it’s vegan but still hearty, just like how Greeks eat during Lent” or “great option if you’re trying to cut back on meat in January.”

• Confidence on common questions e.g. whether dishes are fully vegan, can be made gluten-free, or suitable for nut allergies.

You don’t need a lecture about ethics, most guests are just looking for something tasty that fits their resolution, their budget, or both.

Final thought

Veganuary doesn’t have to be an expensive experiment. By:

• Building dishes around low-cost, naturally vegan ingredients

• Using frozen and pre-prepared wisely

• Cross-utilising what you already buy

• Veganising your best sellers instead of starting from zero

• Tidying up your menu and pricing

• And giving your team the right talking points

…you can turn January into a strong, margin-friendly month that shows guests you’re serious about plant-based eating not just for one campaign, but for the rest of the year too.