Based on a recent survey, one-third of vegan restaurants in the United States report that they are in danger of going out of business
Across the United States, dozens of vegan restaurants have closed over the course of the pandemic. Based on a recent survey by abillion, a social network championing vegan food and sustainability, one-third of vegan restaurants nationwide report that they are in danger of going out of business. Based on the same survey, 95% of vegan restaurants say that Instagram is an important driver of sales. To make it through this storm, they need to boost their marketing, but the last thing that most restaurants have bandwidth for right now is social media outreach.
“I want people to talk about how we save vegan restaurants, by sharing statements like, “I am only eating from vegan restaurants this week!”, shares Asher Brown, founder @pollutiontv and @weareimpactors.
We Are Impactors – a new crowd-sourced discovery platform for impactful vegan, environmental, and social justice videos – is today launching a groundbreaking campaign to mobilize the online community and #SaveVeganRestaurants. This campaign is being launched in partnership with abillion and Million Dollar Vegan.
“Vegan restaurants are the heart of the plant-based community. And they need our help. These incredible local businesses have been fighting non-stop to keep us fed, and now we must fight equally as hard to help them keep their doors open,” said Asher Brown, executive director of We Are Impactors and founder of Pollution.tv. “#SaveVeganRestaurants is a nationwide mobilization of content creators on behalf of the restaurants we love. We Are Impactors and I have been blown away by the outpouring of support for this campaign from many of the plant-based movement’s most impactful voices.”
Together, and with the support of well-known impactors, the groups will use their platforms to drive new audiences and customers to restaurants’ Instagrams, with every new share and follow an opportunity for restaurants to deliver their messages and increase their sales. The campaign is also asking everyone to post reviews of their favorite vegan dishes on the abillion app to raise up to $1 million for vegan restaurants directly (more details below).
Here’s how it works: for the month of April, We Are Impactors will help vegan restaurants to increase sales by flooding Instagram with the #SaveVeganRestaurants hashtag and acting collectively to follow, like, and amplify as many vegan restaurants as we can. To launch this campaign, We Are Impactors is releasing an impactor-backed #SaveVeganRestaurants video
today, featuring calls to action by: Daniella Monet (4.3m followers), Mayim Bialik (3.6m followers), Sophia Esperanza (2.8m followers), Mýa (1.7 m followers), and many others. The launch video can be accessed here. Over the course of the campaign, these impactors and more will continue to release content on social media to drive traffic to various vegan restaurants.
“Vegan restaurants need our support because without our voices and our dollars they may not make it,” said Daniella Monet, actress, mom, impactor, and entrepreneur.
Additionally, We Are Impactors will donate production of a video commercial ($5k value) to the US based vegan restaurant that gains the most Instagram followers in the month of April, and Million Dollar Vegan will buy $1,000 worth of meals from each of the US restaurants with the second and third most new followers and donate them to communities in need. To nominate a restaurant, people can mention them in a wall post with #SaveVeganRestaurants and tag @WeAreImpactors.
We Are Impactors is partnering with abillion to create a Save Vegan Restaurants fund to directly raise money for vegan restaurants – up to $1 million in 2021. abillion is the premier user-generated content platform for vegan dishes, sustainable, and cruelty-free products. For each review a member posts through the app, abillion gives that member $1 to donate to an impactful cause.
abillion has established a Save Vegan Restaurants fund that members can choose when selecting a cause. This fund is open to all US-based vegan restaurants that are claimed on the app. To participate, members needs to review a dish from a veg friendly restaurant and include the tag #SaveVeganRestaurants. abillion is free to join, and with each review members generate a $1 donation, with no limit on how many reviews they can post. abillion will keep the campaign active for 12 months, starting 1 April. At the end of each month, collected donations will be disbursed to all participating US (only) vegan restaurants in proportion to the reviews posted about their dishes. This campaign is part of abillion’s larger commitment to using social media for social good. Through their donation platform, they have already donated over $500,000 to impactful causes worldwide, and will only be increasing its philanthropic contribution in 2021 and beyond.
“Advocacy is powerful but what many of these restaurants in the United States need right now is actual financial assistance. We have always placed philanthropy over marketing, committing money to donate to great causes to effect real change and make an impact. We hope that the public responds to our call to action, to dine at vegan restaurants, to review their dishes, and then to donate the money that we reward them with each review to the Save Vegan Restaurants fund. It’s that easy to make an impact,” said Vikas Garg, CEO and founder of abillion.
For updates on the #SaveVeganRestaurants campaign, follow We Are Impactors, abillion, and Million Dollar Vegan on Instagram.
About We Are Impactors
We Are Impactors is a crowd-sourced discovery platform for impactful vegan, environmental, and social justice videos with a mission to empower creators to change the world. Their international team of volunteers is working to map, connect, and promote the most impactful creators on YouTube and Instagram, gathering data to answer the question: who best inspires you to act? We Are Impactors is the latest project from the Los Angeles-based creative agency Pollution.tv, with the support of over a dozen nonprofits in the US and worldwide.
About abillion
abillion is working to drive a global movement for plant-based food and cruelty-free products. Its review platform helps people discover vegan options everywhere and uses consumer data to create a better world for everyone. The platform inextricably links what people are buying with a life that is impactful. Whenever a member posts a review, abillion gives them USD $1 to donate to a charity they support, which they can do through the app. abillion’s mission is to guide a billion people to adopt a plant-based lifestyle in the next 10 years and to be a leading sponsor of animal welfare, rescue and advocacy work globally.
About Million Dollar Vegan Million Dollar Vegan, which operates in ten countries and has inspired over 150,000 people to switch to a plant-based diet this year, is a global nonprofit dedicated to educating people about the many benefits of adopting a vegan lifestyle. They are perhaps most famous for teaming up with Sir Paul McCartney, Woody Harrelson and Joaquin Phoenix in 2019, and challenging Pope Francis to “Fight Climate Change With Diet Change” by going vegan in return for a $1M donation to the charity of his choice. The Pope declined the challenge but gave the charity His blessing!
