Veganism is spreading around the world
Meeting RINGANA proves that even in predominantly meat-eating Austria, the vegan movement is gaining traction
Ilove reading about positive vegan news from around the world. Isn't it inspirational to know that globally, there are likeminded people spreading a positive vegan message? And often this is happening through business, too. have been running my vegan PR business for 17 years and my vegan website VeggieVision TV for forever, and I have never known a time like this. I receive so much exciting vegan news daily and I send out a lot of vegan news to the media as well. As I write this, the ‘breaking' vegan news today is that... Marks and Spencer' Percy Pigs are now vegan! At the same time, internationally exciting vegan stories are also popping up around me. Berlin's Universities cut meat from their canteens; the Volkswagen eatery in Wolfsburg is replacing currywurst with plant-based sausages, and even Walt Disney World and Disneyland are developing delicioussounding vegan delights. So, I was rather excited to hear that my super new client, the pioneering skin and supplement brand RINGANA (based in Austria, ringana.com), offer their staff a free, plant-based canteen at their campus called ‘RINGlunch‘.
Not only are all of their skincare and supplement products vegan — and have been since they launched in 2003 — but the company is also carbon neutral and they constantly strive to do even better for the planet. All of their suitable roof tiles have solar panels, and they collect rainwater to flush their toilets and they have an impressive recycling initiative in Europe. However, let's find out more about their innovative staff canteen. Eco-conservation was also a key factor in designing the RINGANA eatery. It is one of the very few purely vegetarian and vegan company canteens in Austria.
“Meatless dishes are simply the most sustainable. We also see that the RINGlunch is helping to raise awareness among our employees,” says their sustainability expert, Patrick Sonnleitner.
It has been open since the summer of 2021, inspired by RINGANA founder
Ulla Wannemacher, who hasn't eaten meat since childhood.
“We are all about freshness and sustainability here at RINGANA and this is for all of our products, the business as well as at RINGlunch,” Patrick adds.
“Staff have to order the food they would like in advance as we prepare what is needed — we always avoid waste. The ingredients are fresh and very good quality and include regional, vegetable-based, Styrian dishes. We have a big salad bar, fresh soup and two menus to choose from.”
Although the chefs are not vegan, they are enjoying the challenge of creating plant-based options for everyone to enjoy including fresh burgers and lasagnes using soya mince. However, with a 600-peoplestrong team of traditionally meat-eating Austrians, at first, some decided to take in their own meat at lunch time. However, this didn't last long and very rarely happens now, as the food is so filling and delicious.
This plant-based canteen sounds like a dream to me… No cross contamination and FREE!
I chat more with Patrick and the team to find out more about the brand's vegan ethics as well.
Why did RINGANA decide to be a vegan brand before it was ‘on trend'? Sustainability was a big part of RINGANA's DNA from the beginning. The products were vegan when the word ‘vegan' was not even existing in the minds of most people. But RINGANA has always been a trendsetter and ahead of things.
Were people surprised or intrigued when you announced RINGANA was vegan? Vegan was not a widely-known concept at that time, so yes, people were very surprised, also by the freshness of the products. The concept of RINGANA was totally new.
What skincare ingredients are the most special or do you feel people need to know about?
Each product contains a lot of different ingredients — that is what makes them so effective. RINGANA does not focus on one or two ‘star products', but on the combination of the most effective ingredients.
Why do you feel plants are better for us than animal products?
We respect nature and the animals and the people. We think that there is no alternative to vegan, because of sustainability and because of effectiveness.
I have met so many inspiring people over the years, making a differnce to veganism though business.
Without them, life would be a lot tougher for us, wouldn‘t it?