Veganz Supermarket in the States – “We love life"
Veganz supermarket (found in 2011 by Jan Bredack) is coming stateside in 2016. After seeing success in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Essen, Cologne, Prague, and Vienna, Europe’s inaugural vegan supermarket chain has set its sights on Portland as its initial ambassador location. This makes sense given the Portland’s status as a “mecca” for vegans in the United States. According to Wikipedia, “the chain is run as a franchise, with Bredack retaining 50 percent ownership of each store.”
Bredack, a former manager at Daimler AG, is an interesting character in his own right, having become a vegan in 2009, and was inspired to open a vegan supermarket “after coming across various vegan products in the US and Russia…as a vegan he found it hard to ‘shop normally.’” He noted in the same interview that “Veganz is not aiming to turn the world vegan, but just to make a vegan lifestyle possible to everyone without great effort.”
His shop isn’t just concerned with the welfare of animals, but has made an effort to act as a greener company (generally, a vegan diet offers several benefits beyond simple nutrition, but with regard to environmental sustainability). Many of their products are shipped to individual Veganz stores from all over the world, however, Bredack, with more intimate knowledge of his stores’ vendors, has noted that “all products that come from the US and Canada are transported in cargo ships.”
Please take a look below at an excellent (and English-subtitled) interview with Jan Bredack with regard to his current business practices, goals, plans for the future, and some interesting information about the customers he works with day-in and day-out (“80% of our customers are neither vegan nor vegetarian”). The feedback from Yelp and other blogs from consumers with regard to this vegan franchise is overwhelmingly positive.
Interview source: http://www.thelocal.de/20140605/jan-bredeck-boss-of-worlds-first-vegan-supermarket-veganz
