The Story of Vegan Fine Foods: America's All-Vegan Market

We started in 2018. It's been an amazing journey and we have barely scratched the surface of the potential of the exploding natural plant-based foods market.  Here's the story of Vegan Fine Foods, from concept to creation, from an idea to reality.

First, a Problem then a Solution

We opened our flagship store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 2018, but the journey began long before that. It started in May, 1997. After years in graduate school, I gained a lot of weight and my health was failing. That led to the decision to take control of my health, cleanse my system, and get back on track. It led to the decision to change from a fast-food, meat-based diet to a plant-based, vegan diet.​​

The change turned out to be more difficult than I realized. While searching for plant-based alternatives,  I had to go to multiple stores to find the products I wanted. On top of that, I ​spent an incredible amount of time reading product labels to make sure all the ingredients were plant-based. Doing this every week turned out to be a problem. I ​knew others were experiencing the same challenges in finding quality vegan products in traditional grocery stores. 

The seed was planted. I knew the solution: an all-vegan grocery store where customers would find a variety of products that were certified vegan, providing a sense of relief and comfort to vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians. That was the birth of Vegan Fine Foods. It was time to develop the plan.

A Man With a Plan

By early 2016 I had the first draft of a business plan but I needed to do more research. I wanted to study vegan markets that were already succeeding. I found out quickly that there weren't many to choose from. In the U.S., I went to Gary Null's Uptown Whole Foods in NYC and Food Fight in Portland, Oregon. Then I traveled to Europe to see Veganz in Berlin andVBites in London. I learned from all of them. Then I blended in what I ​learned at traditional specialty stores, such as Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca, and completed the plan.

The next step was to find a special location with lots of character. I found the perfect retail space in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The buildout took almost a year. Then I assembled a passionate team and finally, in the Spring of 2018, we opened!

Over a thousand customers came to celebrate with us on our Grand Opening Weekend!

Our First Year

We had an amazing first year, even with all the challenges a startup brings. We managed to do $1 million in sales, and served over 35,000 customers! We also learned a lot. Now we are laser focused on growing the business strategically. Based on the overwhelming feedback we received from customers and fans across the country, in addition to extensive market research, we decided that franchising would be the cornerstone of our growth strategy. 

We began to implement another central part of our strategy by launching our own line of wines, called Vegan Fine Wines. It was the first rollout of our new "Vegan Fine" brand of high quality, private-label products that we plan to expand significantly in 2019 and 2020.

In addition to our line of products, we actively promote vegan startup brands and businesses. Our customers love that they are able to find products on our shelves that are not found in mainstream grocery stores. This is one of our key differentiators. We will always be on the cutting edge of new and innovative plant-based products as this market continues its amazing growth

We have discovered that over 50% of our customers are not vegan or vegetarian. They are often occasional plant-based eaters or others curious to see what vegan food is all about. We are a very inclusive and look forward to sharing our alternatives to traditional fair with customers and communities throughout the country and around the world. Our motto is: Strictly vegan but not just for vegans. So far in our cafe, Vegan Mac & Cheese with Chorizo is our number one seller, and everyone loves our delicious Acai Bowls. 

Next Steps

Now that we have tested our concept and proved that it works, we are preparing to franchise. We have three franchise options that we will offer to prospective franchisees: 1) Vegan Fine Foods, which includes groceries, prepared foods, and health & ​beauty care products; 2) Vegan Fine Cafe, which is our branded prepared foods division. We believe it has great potential as a stand alone Fast-Casual, Quick Service Restaurant, which is the fastest growing category in food franchising; and 3) Vegan Fine Body, our health, body, & beauty care division.

We believe these distinctive franchise offerings will be instrumental in 1) appealing to a larger group of entrepreneurs, 2) growing the brand, 3) introducing Vegan Fine Foods in communities across the United States and beyond, and 4) achieving our mission of making high-quality, vegan products accessible to everyone.

We will also be launching an e-commerce platform as part of our expansion plans. The first phase will involve taking online orders and fulfilling them at night. This model will allow us to dial in our online offering while we look at different fufillment strategies. We are a bricks & mortar store that uses social media to promote our products to a large audience that will have the option to buy online. We have followers all over the country that will have access to our products, just like our local customers. 

The Vegan Tsunami

After many years in obscurity, veganism has gone mainstream. We're witnessing explosive growth in the vegan food space. This is the result of a convergence of factors. Movie makers and Netflix have influenced many people to "go vegan" by producing documentaries such as What The Health, Fork Over Knives, Food, Inc. and Hungry for Change.

Social media influencers are also taking up the vegan mantle. This is a true sea change. Even major corporations are jumping in, Burger King is now offering an all-vegan Impossible Whopper! Suddenly, there are vegan options on almost every chain restaurant menu. We are fortunate to be going into our second year of business with the positive momentum in this market. This vegan wave shows no signs of slowing down. It's an exciting time for vegans and vegan businesses!

At Vegan Fine Foods, we are seeing the same explosion of growth in number of customers, sales per customer, and total sales at the store level. For example, in the first quarter of 2019, the average number of customers per day has increased over 20%. Between February and March alone, total store sales have increased 20.2% and the average number of paying customers visiting our store daily increased 22.3%. We are seeing growth across the board, including deliveries, which increased 11% in the same time period.

As we continue to expand our product and service offerings, and execute on our 2019 strategic initiatives, we anticipate even more impressive growth in our key performance indicators, in-line with the dramatic growth in this exciting new market for natural, plant-based foods.

People, Profits, Planet

The triple bottom line is our commitment to doing our part to make the world a better place. We support our mission of making vegan options and awareness available to everyone by providing education about plant-based eating and providing transitional foods that appeal to vegans and non- vegans. We are in business to make a profit, but in so doing, our products and sustainable practices can also help the environment. We hope that you share our vision that good business and being a good corporate citizen go hand-in-hand. Thanks for your interest in Vegan Fine Foods. We hope you join our team!