When Tom Barton co-founded Honest Burgers in 2011, he never expected to one day launch a vegan restaurant brand. He talks to Sophie Witts about spin-off concept V Honest, which opens its first site in London this week.
Are you surprised to be launching a vegan restaurant concept?
Oh yeah. Five or six years ago we'd all have been very surprised to see the rise of veganism and plant-based diets, but they're here to stay. It's an exciting space and the flavours are a knockout. That's the big thing for us, we're not just doing this to get some headlines.
How did V Honest come about?
It came from the success of our plant-based range. When we launched our plant burger with a Beyond Meat patty in Honest Burgers we had a huge reaction from meat eaters, vegans and vegetarians alike. We started thinking about the idea for V Honest about three years ago but then Covid-19 came along and shattered our hopes and dreams.
We felt like we had more to offer in that space that we couldn't do in our restaurants because of small kitchens and the risk of cross-contamination. There were so many things we'd tested in development sessions and innovative creators in the space that we felt we had to give it its own bricks and mortar site. V Honest was meant to open early January but we've had some Covid-related staffing issues, so we're grabbing the last 10 days of Veganuary and will open on 20 January.
What proportion of sales are plant-based dishes at Honest Burgers?
We have highs and lows, but it levels out at about 15%. If you'd have said that four or five years ago, I'd never have believed it. Our monthly special for Veganuary is a teriyaki burger with both a beef and a vegan version. The plant burger is made with an incredible ingredient called Fable, which is a plant-based protein made from shiitake mushrooms, which have an amazing meat-like texture when cooked properly. The sales split of those two has been about 50% when we've done it the last two years. We realised vegan food was going to be a big movement, like it should be.
What are your future plans for V Honest?
This is us putting our flag in the sand now and saying we want to be the go-to place for great vegan fast food. We're hoping the site is going to be here to stay and there will be opportunities for more restaurants and to increase our plant-based offer within Honest Burgers.
We are looking at opening some V Honest delivery kitchens. We've got the vegan menu running alongside our regular menu at our Swiss Cottage Deliveroo dark kitchen site in London and we're looking at taking it to other locations. It would be exciting to see the appetite for it.
Does the vegan ethos extend to other areas, such as the materials used in the restaurant ?
At the moment we haven't focused on interior fit out. But we are looking at the carbon impact of all our new openings this year. We do want to take our impact much more seriously. We've always tended to use a lot of reclaimed furniture and wood, but it's on the agenda to make that more of a feature.
We are ultimately a meat restaurant and a meat brand and are proud of our meat supply chain and want to make it the best in the world. We do really believe that some farming systems in the UK can be the best on the planet, whether that's due to the landscape or climate.
Do you anticipate other casual dining brands will launch vegan offshoots as plant-based diets become more common?
I do. If I'm being completely honest, I'd love to see brands trying to tackle some of the more difficult areas of their business like the supply chain, as opposed to offsetting or buying reclaimed furniture. Those things are important but one of your main inputs as a restaurant business is always going to be the food, and vegan foods have a much lighter footprint on the planet.
We've got a serious issue on our hands and restaurants can too often be quite aimless about their ingredients and it's so disjointed. Restaurants have a power as businesses that buy hundreds of thousands of tons of certain items. If only they go that little bit deeper into their own supply chain, sitting down and giving these farmers the time of day, then they can start making a difference in how things are produced. That's what Honest Burgers is going to be making a big song and dance about this year.
It's such a big spinning wheel. I genuinely think if we can fix our food system we can make a huge impact on this climate emergency we're in.
What's on the menu?
Buffalo burger: Fried chick'n, buffalo sauce, Applewood vegan cheese, ranch mayo, lettuce, and pickles
"We made our own buffalo sauce with Frank's hot sauce and doused the fried chick'n piece in that. It's topped with vegan Applewood cheddar and ranch mayo and is quite a messy one. You get that chilli sourness from the buffalo sauce then the cooling of the mayo."
Teriyaki burger: Plant burger, Applewood vegan cheese, Fable pulled shiitake mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, grilled peppers, spring onions, umami mayo, and lettuce
"The burger is made from shiitake mushrooms and is topped with umami mayonnaise. It's a real savoury whack of taste."
Pesto burger: Fried chik'n, basil pesto, mustard mayo, tomato, and rocket
"The pesto is made with vegan Parmesan, pine nuts and garlic, and the mayonnaise is created using aquafaba by a brand called Rubies in the Rubble."
The Honest Burger, the Tribute, the Chilli
"These are veganised versions of our classic burgers using Beyond Meat patties and Applewood vegan cheese. There's also a Mexicana vegan cheese with chopped chillies running through it that sits on our Chilli burger."
Pulled shiitake nuggets
"A ball of shiitake stem mushroom soaked in a mushroom stock, deep-fried in batter, and served crisp. It comes with umami mayonnaise with spring onions on top as a delicious side order."
V Honest opens on 20 January on 17 Garrett Street, Covent Garden, London.
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