In California, some vegan restaurants have run into a rather awkward reality: the love for plants is there, but the revenue isn't always.
Against the backdrop of falling demand, some establishments that had originally built their menus exclusively around plant-based cuisine began adding meat items to them.
The result was an almost perfect gastronomic comedy:
"We're still a vegan restaurant. Just not quite anymore."
For the owners, of course, this is no joke. Restaurants operate on very simple math: if there are fewer diners, you either have to change your concept or close.
But from the outside, the situation looks almost philosophical.
Only yesterday, the restaurant was explaining why a burger without meat is the future of humanity.
Today, ordinary chicken appears next to it.
And the menu seems to say:
"Our convictions remain the same. But the rent has remained the same too."
What's especially interesting is that we're talking about California — one of the places where plant-based cuisine was for many years perceived as an almost natural part of urban culture. It is precisely here that vegan cafés, plant-based burgers and alternative milk long ago stopped seeming like anything unusual.
But even a fashionable trend doesn't guarantee a restaurant a permanent line out the door.
In the end, some owners decided to broaden their audience: keep the beloved plant-based dishes, but add options for those who want meat.
From a business standpoint, it's perfectly logical.
From the standpoint of a committed vegan, it's roughly like a fitness club suddenly opening a pastry shop inside.
Though perhaps it's simply the next stage of restaurant evolution.
Not a "vegan restaurant."
Not a "meat restaurant."
But an establishment of a new format:
"Eat whatever you like, just please come."
And perhaps it is precisely this phrase that best describes the restaurant business in 2026 year. 😄
