Million-dollar funding to provide more plant-based restaurant experiences

The Foundation for Plant-Based Foods (Plantefonden) has committed DKK 1.5 million to the Danish Vegetarian Association and food wholesaler Dagrofa Foodservice for a new project that will ensure more plant-based meals in Danish restaurants.

The project bears the official name 'More Plants in Full Service Restaurants' and is a 2-year initiative starting on January 1, 2026.  

The background for the project is that Denmark lags behind our neighbouring countries when it comes to plant-based food at Full Service Restaurants (FSR segment). This is due, among other things, to low supply and limited knowledge about plant-based meals.

The new project will focus on identifying barriers and opportunities to get more plant-based dishes on the menu. This will be done, for example, through an in-depth needs analysis of both guests and restaurants.

The analysis will be followed up with targeted culinary masterclasses for kitchen staff and nudging initiatives aimed at guests. The initiatives will then be tested in practice, and the experiences will be disseminated to the rest of the Danish foodservice industry.  

Adam Kuskner is a behavioural specialist at the Danish Vegetarian Association and one of the project leaders on 'More Plants at Full Service Restaurants' in addition to being affiliated with the knowledge bank Plant-Based Knowledge Center.

He sees a great need to normalise green menus: "We are experiencing great interest from Danish restaurants in putting more green meals on the menu. But there are some barriers that need to be broken down for it to really take off. For example, many places lack concrete help in making the dishes, and they don't know how to stimulate demand."

Adam Kuskner continues: "In the Danish Vegetarian Association and Plant-Based Knowledge Center, we have some tools and experiences that we can use. And thanks to the collaboration with Dagrofa Foodservice, we now have the opportunity to share all our experiences widely with the industry. I'm looking forward to getting started and working on naming dishes, giving vegetables a greater role, upgrading staff, setting up menus and much more. It will be exciting to see the effect."

Culinary inspiration must be spread throughout the restaurant industry

Dagrofa Foodservice is also involved in the project, where the company will, among other things, be responsible for the aforementioned targeted masterclasses and help ensure that the good experiences are spread as widely as possible in the restaurant industry.

Gastronomic development manager at Dagrofa Foodservice, Marlene B. Lindegaard, is looking forward to pulling on the work clothes:

"We can see that the Danish food scene on the restaurant front is lagging behind compared to abroad when it comes to creating good food experiences with vegetables. The Danish canteens are also really good at embracing green meals, but now we need to investigate how we can collectively help inspire the FSR segment and their guests."

She says in conclusion: "For many years, it has been one of my personal passions that we should become better at growing and normalising meals with a focus on vegetables. That is why I am incredibly pleased that we are now receiving financial support from the Plantefonden. This is the first time that we have joined forces with the Danish Vegetarian Association in a foundation-supported project, and I look forward to sharing new knowledge and our experiences."

The Plant Fund was established by the Danish Parliament as part of the green transition of Danish agriculture and food consumption. The purpose is to ensure a Danish leading position in the production and development of plant-based foods – and at the same time to ensure that far more of them end up on Danes' plates.

Photo: Martin-Kaufmann

‍