A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about vegan food trends in Vienna. Here are a few more thoughts about vegan trends in 2025, except this article doesn’t just focus on food.
I do want to start this article with a few words about one food trend which now seems to be over: raw food. “Simply Raw Bakery” closed in September of 2023, “Raw Shop” / “Lovely Food” closed sometime before 2019, and “Dancing Shiva Superfoods” has been closed since 2017. “The Art of Raw” also closed a few years ago (not exactly sure when); there isn’t a single vegetarian raw food restaurant left in Vienna in 2025.
© Ingrid Haunold
Trends: Vegan restaurants seem to become ever more popular with people who are lactose-intolerant. I recently had a chat with one of the proprietors of “Couch Potato,” a vegan cocktail bar in Vienna, which also serves a few snacks. The cocktail bar is located inside the Millennium City shopping mall — if you’re standing in the food court, just look up; the bar is located on the second floor. According to the owners, “Couch Potato” is especially popular with women. The bar is well-lit and it doesn’t have that pick-up vibe that many bars have. I went there alone to check it out, and felt safe and comfortable having a drink by myself.
Funnily enough, the cocktail bar is also quite popular with people in Vienna who are lactose-intolerant. Many cocktails, e. g., Coladas which are usually prepared with cream, are prepared with coconut milk or other vegan ingredients at “Couch Potato.” I never quite thought about veganism from any other perspective than the perspective of animal welfare or in terms of general health; but it makes total sense that lactose-intolerant people would seek out vegetarian restaurants, cafés, and bars. I do think this particular group of customers presents a unique marketing opportunity for vegetarian businesses.
One failed experiment is “Tolstoy,” a vegetarian restaurant where customers needed to order and pre-pay their food at a cashless self-service vending system. You simply couldn’t pay with cash at this restaurant. I ate there once, and even though I liked the food, I never bothered to return. I was sure that this restaurant would eventually fail, as Austria is still very much a cash society. Polling data from 2024 from the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) shows that only 6% of Austrians can even imagine not using cash for everyday purchases. For amounts under 50.00 Euros most people prefer to use cash, and most respondents considered cash as the optimal means of payment at the point of sale.
Another experiment: If you google the term “sharing menus,” you’ll find many articles which declare “sharing menus” as a new trend. I disagree. “Sharing menus” are an experiment that never quite caught on, at least in Vienna. In many restaurants, you’ll find sharing platters as a food option, and that’s fine and a welcome addition to the menu; but there’s only one vegetarian restaurant in Vienna which uses “sharing menus” as a business model, and that’s “Tian Bistro.” I don’t expect other restaurants to follow their lead. “Sharing menus” are basically set menus with a fancy name, served on platters for two or more people. There are no food options at “Tian Bistro,” there’s just one “sharing menu.” I’m not a fan of this concept, for several reasons.
Sharing menus usually consist of several courses, which naturally drives up the price of the restaurant bill, but not everyone can afford to order several courses at a restaurant. Friends who have different jobs, different levels of income, and thereby different financial resources simply can’t eat at such restaurants. Some people can afford to order appetizers, an entrée, and dessert, as well as several drinks; others can only afford to order and pay for one entrée and one drink. “Tian Bistro” currently (October 2025) charges 57.00 Euros for the “sharing menu” per person, plus 3.00 Euros cover charge, plus drinks, plus tips. I don’t know many people who can afford such prices, and I would never choose to eat at a restaurant where I don’t have options, both in terms of food and in regard to how much I or my friends want to spend. “Tian Bistro” seems to be doing well and I wish them continued success, but I don’t think that “sharing menus” are a “trend” that will catch on.
Threats: Quite a few vegetarian restaurants in Vienna don’t have their own website. They only have social media accounts, some on Facebook, others on Instagram. This might work for small take-away joints which get of most of their custom from people who live in a restaurant’s immediate vicinity. But most restaurants need to do a certain amount of marketing in order to stay in business. It’s short-sighted, and bad business sense not to have a dedicated website for a business, and it will threaten the long-term survival chances of any business if there’s no website.
A dedicated URL allows a restaurant’s customers to find and access essential information like opening hours or download the menu. More and more people are cancelling their social media accounts, myself included. I am unable to access information on Facebook and Instagram, and that’s just fine with me. I always check out each vegetarian restaurant in Vienna personally before I put it on my “Vegan Vienna” list, but I won’t bother to return if it’s a hassle to research the most basic information about a restaurant.
Some restaurants which do have websites don’t bother to maintain them — there’s outdated information on some websites, e.g., about opening hours, or there’s no (legally required!) information about a website’s owners listed anywhere on the site. Some people who open small vegetarian restaurants are full of passion, but have very little business sense, and don’t seem to know much about running a business. It’s no wonder that many restaurants close after a few years, or sometimes after just a few months. Get a website, and maintain it!