Webinar: Five Steps to Implement a Vegan Nudge

By Odette Olivares, MSN

On January 26,  2022 the webinar Five Steps to Implement a Vegan Nudge took place. Jan Stoop, Associate Professor of Applied Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, explained a simple five-step strategy to veganize the catering service in any organization. He originated his proposal by applying the concept of a nudge from behavioral economics and succeeded in his endeavor by following the five steps at his facility.

In the beginning, Jan’s first instinct was to behave as a benevolent dictator, who would oblige the whole university to turn vegan right away. However, he knew this strategy would have generated a lot of resistance. He then came up with the idea of switching the default option of the catering service to vegan, maintaining people’s free will. If someone wanted a non-vegan option, they would simply have to ask for it. By doing this, Jan created a nudge in the catering service.

In behavioral economics, a nudge is a positive reinforcement or indirect suggestion for consumers to behave in a certain way. Nudges are effective because people tend to choose the least effort possible, and because they tend to abide by the norm. Keeping freedom of choice, Jan simply made it easier for people to get a vegan choice while reinforcing a new norm based on environmental consciousness and the values of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Professor Rinus van Schendelen suggested the following five steps to Jan:

Step one: Gather data. Compare the differences between standard food choices to vegan ones.

Step two: Think about arguments. Use the ones that have more probability to convince and represent your audience, and keep those which you have a deeper understanding of.

Step three: Convince key people to join. Write a letter to the dean or the respective authority, signed by the most high-profile people in the organization.

Step four: Confront the ultimate authority. Explain your arguments and show that you are not the only one who wants the change. Keep free will in your proposal. 

Step five: Tasting trial. Offer a nice, good-looking, tasty trial of the newly available vegan food options.

This five-step strategy helped Jan to diminish resistance towards veganism and to teach people that vegan food can be as tasty as non-vegan food.    

Stephen Sturdivant organized the webinar on behalf of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6. More than 100 people attended. The interchange of complementary information regarding environmental data related to the vegan diet, scientific articles, non-governmental vegan organizations, and many other vegan entities, showed the great interest participants had on the topic. Jan hopes that all of these attendees apply the five-step strategy to contribute to spreading the goodness of vegan diets.

For more information on veg foodservice ideas, see https://www.vrg.org/fsupdate/index.htm

Odette interned with The Vegetarian Resource Group and was author of Traditional Vegan Calcium Sources for Latinos. See: https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/foods_calcium.htm