Ovolo Hotels’ 2nd Meat-Free Year: ‘We Have Decided to Go the Full 100 Percent’

Ovolo Hotels is making a menu change. Across its chain of 12 hotels throughout Hong Kong, Bali, and Australia, it’s removing meat from its restaurant menus for the second year in a row.

“Meat is being removed for a second year in a row at Ovolo Hotels. With a number of our Ovolo venues already serving plant-based cuisine, we have decided to go the full 100 percent,” Ovolo Group’s Founder and CEO, Girish Jhunjhnuwala, said in a statement.

“It’s been a strategic move, but Ovolo prides itself on being an industry leader. We believe that the world changes, therefore we continue to evolve – we want to ensure we are doing our bit to help preserve our environment, promote healthy eating and enhance the image of amazing vegetarian and plant-based dining.”

The new menu pledge launched on Monday via a white paper on its website that it calls the Plant’d Playbook.

The “playbook” includes details on the chain’s reasoning behind the shift, as well as strategies it hopes other hotels and restaurants will adopt.

The decision follows its “Year of the Veg” campaign, which launched in 2020. That campaign saw its hotel restaurants pledge to vegetarian-only cuisine for a full year. The campaign was a success; it ended last October.

Jhunjhnuwala says Ovolo learned a lot during the year, it’s why the group has made its new playbook public. “[W]e want to share those insights with others in the industry and outside the industry considering making the switch to a vegetarian-lead offerings or integrating it into their existing offering,” he said. “That’s why we have created our Plant’d Playbook white paper, which will be publicly available for all to access”.

Plant-based demand

The new menu offerings are intended to meet consumers where they’re at—Ovolo says that place is an increased interest in eating more plant-based food.

The shift was helmed by Ovolo’s Creative Culinary Partner, Ian Curley, who worked with all of the chain’s restaurants to establish the new menus.

“Our move to vegetarian dining has been even more successful than we anticipated, and we now find ourselves part of a new wave of plant-based pioneers,” Curley said.

“The one big lesson we have learned from our bold experiment: never underestimate your guests. A key focus for us has been ensuring we are creating something that still appeals to everyone – from vegans to flexitarians, and those who are simply keen on expanding their palette,” he said.

“We are lucky enough to be working with some incredible suppliers across the rollout who share our passion for offering nutritious, delicious and sustainable food solutions. Companies such as V2 are really expanding people’s minds in terms of what is possible with plant-based cuisine, and make it an easy entry point for those curious about trying some vegan spins on classic dishes”.

Plant’d builds on Ovolo’s increasing sustainability efforts in its restaurants that include natural wine selections, sustainable takeaway containers, and removing single-use plastic.

In the chain’s hotel rooms, it has also eliminated single-use bathroom plastics and switched to sustainably sourced ingredients, refillable bottles, and biodegradable materials in laundry and dry cleaning bags.