Veganuary: How Restaurants Can Use Technology to Adapt to the Rise in Vegan and Plant-Based Dining Trends

Foodics, MENA’s leading restaurant operations and payment technology company offers technology solutions for restaurants looking to keep up with market trends.

As more diners seek plant-based options across cafés, quick-service restaurants and fine-dining venues, restaurants and F&B businesses are adapting their menus and operations to keep up the pace with changing preferences. Restaurant technology and AI-powered tools are playing a key role in helping owners analyze customer demand for plant-based items, innovate and experiment with new offerings and respond efficiently to this growing demand. 

The global plant-based food market is expected to reach $85 billion by 2030, up from $43.77 billion in 2023. Plant-based diets have also grown at a CAGR of 8.6% through 2025, driven by preferences for healthy eating and sustainable ingredients. With this rapid growth, restaurants looking to cater to plant-based diners by adapting their offerings, can better understand customer needs and demands by leveraging technology and digital tools.

From seamless POS systems to advanced AI-powered analytics tools, technology is enabling owners to meet the rising demands for vegan and plant-based options in restaurants and other F&B businesses. Foodics, MENA’s leading restaurant operations and payment technology company offers a range of technology solutions designed to support restaurants looking to adapt to plant-based dining trends and be a part of this shift.

How Restaurant Tech Supports the Shift to Plant-Based Dining:

• POS Insights: Through POS insights, restaurants can track sales performance and identify top-selling vegan and plant-based dishes, enabling data-driven menu optimization, better ingredient sourcing, targeted promotions or even expand to new locations popular among vegan diners. Foodics offers a comprehensive cloud-based point-of-sale solution for restaurants, cafés, bakeries and more, to streamline and improve their operations.
• Advanced AI-Powered Analytics Tools: AI-powered analytics tools help transform real-time sales, menu and customer data into actionable insights. Foodics BI is an advanced AI-powered business intelligence and analytics tool that helps restaurants monitor the popularity and profitability of vegan items, identify emerging plant-based trends, forecast demand, reduce waste through smarter inventory planning and increase revenue. Data provided by these tools help owners understand what diners want and how plant-based menu items perform in real-time allowing them to tailor their menus and make smarter, data-driven decisions to cater to consumer needs while also increasing revenue.
• Digital Menus and Filters: Using digital menus with added filters for keywords like “vegan”, “vegetarian”, “plant-based”, etc. will allow diners to easily discover options that match their dietary preferences, enhancing the customer experience.
• Generative AI for Menu Innovation: Tools like Generative AI can also assist in developing and testing new plant-based recipes, ensuring new offerings stay fresh and align with consumer tastes.

Once considered niche, vegan dining and plant-based options are slowly becoming a core offering in restaurants worldwide including Michelin-starred establishments that are even bringing elevated plant-based dining.

Restaurants that leverage technology, AI and digital tools to understand evolving demands, optimize menus and innovate strategically to adapt to the expectations of today’s diners will be better positioned to stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic market.