Ovolo Hotels: First Hospitality Group To Go 100% Vegetarian For A Year

Ovolo Hotels has just announced that it is going to go completely vegetarian across all its restaurants, bars and room service for a whole year, making it the first hotel group to do so. The pledge is part of the company’s wider sustainability commitment to focus on plant-based cuisine in order to reduce its carbon footprint. 

Announced today (October 5), Ovolo Hotels is launching its most ambitious campaign yet to reduce the carbon footprint of its services by promising to ditch meat entirely across its restaurants, bars and food services for one year. Called the “Year of the Veg”, the hotel chain says the initiative marks the beginning of a company-wide shift away from meat and towards “compelling plant-based cuisine instead”. 

Having already established Hong Kong’s first vegetarian hotel restaurant Veda at Ovolo Central, the hotel group will now turn the rest of its food services 100% meat-free. At Ovolo Southside, the all-day restaurant Komune will be cutting meat from its menus and will also open up a brand new entirely vegetarian restaurant concept as well. 

Beyond Hong Kong, Ovolo Group’s locations in Australia will go plant-based for a year, including Monster Kitchen & Bar at Ovolo Nishi in Canberra, ZA ZA TA at Ovolo The Valley in Brisbane, and Mr Percy at Ovolo 1888 in Sydney. The cohort will now be moving a step closer to joining the ranks of Alibi Bar & Kitchen at Ovolo Woolloomooloo, which holds the title of being the first 100% plant-based hotel restaurant that serves only vegan dishes in Australia and New Zealand.

“We want to be conscious about what we’re consuming and practice sustainability as much as we can because we believe this can have an enormous impact on the environment and humanity at large,” said Ovolo Group’s founder and CEO Girish Jhunjhnuwala. “To that end, we’re evolving our food offerings so that our guests can continue enjoying great dining experiences in a more sustainable manner.”

In addition, the hotel group will also be incorporating all-vegetarian dishes across its room service. Guests at Ovolo’s hotels across Hong Kong and Australia will now be able to select from its revamped room service menus, made from fresh produce and locally-sourced ingredients. 

Ovolo’s new direction comes at a time when consumers are coupling their food choices with sustainability more than ever before. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), animal agriculture accounts for a whopping 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases – more than all global transportation combined. 

With the coronavirus pandemic further highlighting the dangers of the meat supply chain, plant-based eating has become one of the most important daily choices that individuals can take to both reduce the environmental impact of their plates, as well as avoid contributing to one of the key drivers of zoonotic pandemics. 

Previously, Ovolo has implemented other sustainability strategies, including eliminating single-use bathroom amenities and launching a vegan-friendly line of refillable toiletries, replacing disposable plastic straws and using reusable woven bags for slippers. 

All images courtesy of Ovolo.