Loving Hut

Loving Hut is a chain of vegan restaurants in which each restaurant is owned and operated independently and sets its own menu. There are locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North America, and Oceania. As of 2017, the chain had over 200 locations in 35 countries. Their slogan is "Be Vegan, Make Peace!" The Loving Hut franchise has different service models ranging from fast food, fast casual to full service restaurants. While each restaurant has the freedom to create its own menu, the Taiwan Loving Hut headquarters published a guide: Criteria for Vegan Food at Loving Hut. The guide lists ingredients as "Vegan", "non Vegan" or "Avoid" citing health concerns. Among the ingredients to avoid are MSG and other glutamates, artificial food coloring, artificial sweeteners and genetically modified foods or ingredients. Alcohol is prohibited in food or drinks and all restaurants are smoke-free, with some restaurants serving non-alcoholic wine and beer. The headquarters and regional sub-offices provide various services for all restaurants regarding food import and export, recipes, personnel and training. The franchise has a factory in Taiwan producing its own varieties of vegan meat analogues, vegan dairy analogues, bulk foods, baked goods and seasonings (such as soy sauce) while encouraging restaurants to use local grown produce. A significant part of the Loving Hut business model is targeting the market of flexitarians and meat eaters, which Loving Hut USA describes as being an "accessible starting point for those making the noble transition to a plant-based diet." This is implemented most notably by the convenience of the fast food model with emphasis on speed of service, affordability to the consumer, which is achieved by disintermediation (cutting out intermediaries) and familiarity: a vegan menu that also includes dishes with the taste, texture and names of non vegan familiar cuisine (fish &...