Pizza Hut joins the the vegan cheese bandwagon

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Everyone’s vegan out.

Pizza Hut is the latest fast-food chain to cater to customers who abstain from eating all animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey, as well as the meat and seafood avoided by vegetarians.

The pizza maker is testing dairy-free Violife cheese atop its pies at five of its UK restaurants from October 11 through November 26 and customers starved for vegan pizza options are eating it up.

Competitor Domino’s rolled out its first vegan pizza in Israel four years ago using a soy-based cheese. Customers didn’t like the taste of that, however, so the brand upgraded to a vegan cheese by UK brand VBites at 55 of its Israeli locations last month.

OMG PIZZA HUT HAVE THE OPTION OF VEGAN CHEESE NOW!!!

— Alex (@satanspeedsup) September 18, 2017

Pizza Hut sampling vegan cheese in Crawley is what dreams are made of

— Beth (@bxthsmith) September 20, 2017

Pizza Hut and Domino’s aren’t dishing vegan pies in the US yet, however and neither company responded to Moneyish requests for comment.

So why are other countries getting the specialty pizzas? While overseas shoppers are buying more into the vegan trend – the number of UK vegans surged more than 350 percent over the past decade – only 6 percent of American consumers claim to be vegan.

Still, that’s six times the 1 percent of customers who identified as vegan in 2014, so eating animal-free is on the rise. The plant-based meat market is poised to hit $5.2 billion by 2020 and could even eat up one-third of the market by 2050.

And that growing plant-based foodie population has spurred plenty of other brands to drop the eggs, dairy and honey from their products.

The century-old Queens-based Elmhurst Dairy was put out to pasture last year – but has reinvented itself as a producer of vegan nut milks.

Ben & Jerry’s recently expanded its almond milk-based vegan flavors to include Coconut Seven Layer Bar, Caramel Almond Brittle and customer-favorite Cherry Garcia. It’s now scooping its plant-based pints in the UK, as well.

Baileys had already poured a dairy-free Irish cream last year for drinkers who were lactose intolerant. And this spring it revealed the vegan Baileys Almande, made with almond milk, almond essence, cane sugar, purified water and real vanilla.

TGI Friday’s is testing a meatless “Beyond Burger” in the greater Boston area made with Beyond Meat’s plant-based protein that holds the soy, gluten and GMOs, for those with sensitive stomachs. Just remind your server to also hold the cheese. The fast-casual chain also boasts a Black Bean & Avocado Burger and other veggie sandwiches.

Vegan Ben & Jerry's, vegan Bailey's, vegan cheese at Pizza Hut, 3rd veggie pret opening this year… 😏💚🌱

— Morgane le Fay☾ (@morgancrawf) September 19, 2017

And Vegan Travel, which specializes in travel for vegans, is sailing what it calls “the world’s first vegan ocean cruise” this month serving vegan food and drinks that have been, “meticulously selected to ensure that they do not contain unnecessary preservatives, additives, sugar, salt or fat.”

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