I’ve been chronicling developments in the vegetarian restaurant scene in Vienna, Austria, since 2014 when I published the first edition of “The Vegan Tourist: Vienna.” I subsequently published an updated 2nd edition as well as a German-language edition to this restaurant guide book in 2016. While I was researching restaurants in 2019 for yet another updated edition, I realised that too many restaurants stayed in business only for a few years, some only for a few months, and I abandoned further plans to update the book. I now keep a record of vegetarian restaurant openings and closings in Vienna on this website. You can find the list here.
Over the course of the last 10+ years, I’ve become very good at predicting a restaurant’s potential for success and have anticipated many restaurant closures after just one visit. Here are my expectations for the coming years in regard to vegan food trends in Vienna:
© Ingrid Haunold
1) Small Middle Eastern take-away restaurants/cafés are becoming ever more popular. They are popping up all over the city, and it’s no surprise. Mostly, these are tiny businesses, so the proprietors are able to keep overhead costs down. The food is moderately priced. As many people can no longer afford to visit traditional restaurants due to the seemingly ever-increasing inflation, these Middle Eastern take-away joints have become very popular. One such example is Jaffa Street Food located in Vienna’s 20th district, where I paid less than 10.00 Euros for a plate of food with bread.
2) Small vegetarian Turkish Çiğ Köfte take-away restaurants/cafés are also popping up all over the city. Until recently, the Oses Çiğ Köfte restaurant chain seemed to dominate the market in Vienna, but other chains like Ruhlo or Komagere have opened restaurants/cafés in various Viennese districts. As the Çiğ Köfte and other dishes are moderately priced, these take-away businesses seem to thrive in a difficult economic environment.
3) One food trend which seems to have peaked concerns vegetarian Burgers. Swing Kitchen, which I love, opened several restaurants over the course of a few years; but the company has now run into financial difficulties. The chain’s holding company, the Schillinger Vegan Holding, recently filed for insolvency, and now needs to close a few restaurants in order to survive. I am confident that Swing Kitchen will continue to thrive in the long-term, and am not worried about this restaurant chain’s survivial; but several other Burger restaurants opened and closed during the last few years, e. g., “I love Veggie Burger,” “Space Burger,” “Flip n Dip,” or “Vegan Junk Punk.” These restaurants offered other foods as well, but Burgers featured prominently on the their menus. It would appear that the market is saturated, and vegetarian customers have become tired of eating at restaurants which offer mostly Burgers and similar fast food fare (i. e., sandwiches or wraps ).
© Ingrid Haunold
4) Another food trend which seems to have peaked concerns restaurants which focus on selling açaí bowls or smoothies. For a few years, the açaí berry was hyped – over-hyped, I think – as a magical ingredient to maintain one’s health by journalists, bloggers, and social media influencers; but it seems that the public have moved on. The vegetarian Superfood Deli chain still operates three cafés in Vienna, but two of its cafés (at Operngasse in the 4th district and at Lerchenfelder Straße in the 7th district) are no longer in business. Another international chain, Oakberry, so far only managed to entice one franchisee into opening an Oakberry branch in Vienna, which is located in the 1st district. The Viennese proprietors only have social media accounts, and no website of their own. Their Facebook account showed 13 “followers” on August 10, 2025 – for a business which opened at the end of 2013. In my opinion, the açaí smoothie/bowl trend has peaked. I expect these restaurants to stay in business, but do not expect many more openings of similar restaurants/cafés.
3) Another trend which seems to have peaked concerns “bowls” of all kinds which were marketed as quick and healthy food options. For a while it seemed as if restaurants and cafés were popping up all over the city which offered mostly mixed salads, wraps, and sandwiches. The mixed salads were marketed as “bowls.” Some cafés and restaurants which mainly focus on healthy foods seem to be struggling. Prominent examples are the two The LaLa locations in Vienna’s 7th district, which were eventually closed down. The primary restaurant had no customer bathrooms, and the other was just a small take-away store; both offered bowls and other simple, mostly healthy dishes. In an interview with Leadersnet Österreich, Cecilia Havmöller, who owns “The LaLa” brand with her sister Susanne Paller, talked about the reasons for “The LaLa’s” failure in Vienna: the COVID pandemic, and significant shifts in the workplace environment since the pandemic; more and more businesses offer their employees the opportunity to work from home at least a few days per week. This led to a significant decrease in revenue during lunch hours. “Quick and healthy” as a food concept no longer seems to guarantee success, and these days, a variety of vegan mixed salad bowls, wraps, and sandwiches can be bought at most supermarkets at cheaper prices than at restaurants. (Please note: two new “The LaLa” stores were subsequently opened at the Vienna International Airport, but are located past the check-in counters and can therefore only be accessed by customers with boarding passes.)
4) Vegetarian or vegan restaurants which offer Asian food are thriving: There are now three vegan Vietnamese Vevi locations in Vienna; Xu`s Cooking has been in business for many years and continues to do brisk business, especially during lunch hours due to their popular lunch buffet. The vegan Taiwanese restaurants Vegetasia and Formosa, as well as two Loving Hut restaurants (in the 7th and 10th districts) have also been in business for a long time. Newcomers are Tau, Veggico, Uudam, Lin’s Veggie Dumplin’, Vina Vegana, Hi Vegan, and Shiyu; they are all welcome additions to the vegetarian restaurant scene in Vienna. With the exception of “Uudam”, which is a small restaurant, all have customer bathrooms. “Hi Vegan” is a small restaurant, geared mostly towards the lunch crowd with a communal high table and bar stool seating (in addition to a couple of chairs and tables); but all the other vegetarian Asian restaurants are restaurants with proper chairs and tables, and some of them also have outdoor patio seating. Some don’t have liquor licences, which doesn’t seem to affect their popularity; I don’t care either.