About us
ProVeg’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable global food system by making plant-rich foods and alternative proteins more accessible and appealing. While our mission is fueled by a global movement spanning offices in 14 countries, this strategy focuses specifically on the work of ProVeg UK.
As a dedicated non-profit, we work to make sure that healthy and sustainable food is an easy option. We achieve this by collaborating directly with schools, hospitals, policymakers, and retailers to promote the quality and uptake of health-conscious, plant-rich, and most importantly, delicious, foods.
Our vision is a world where the food we eat is good for all people, animals, and our planet.
Strategic Pillars 2026-2028
Our strategic pillars represent the areas through which we can achieve the most significant impact in transforming the UK food system. We focus our energy and resources on high-leverage interventions that do the most good for people, animals, and the planet. Our direction is guided by a commitment to maximising long-term impact, which is why we prioritise influencing the influencers (the policy-makers, large-scale caterers, and institutional leaders) who can act as powerful multipliers for change.
We embrace all motivations for eating more plants, from climate and health, to justice and animal welfare. By supporting diverse solutions and remaining positive and incentivising in our approach, we ensure that our work is not just visionary, but pragmatically designed to create an accessible and appealing food system for everyone. The following pillars ensure that every action we take serves as a catalyst for a more sustainable and healthy 2028.
Pillar 1: More plants on plates
Transforming the global food system starts with putting more plants on plates.
2028 Vision: ProVeg UK is the leading expert in shifting institutional catering toward more plant-based food. We have successfully introduced more plant-rich options, making it easier for public sector institutions across the UK, like schools and hospitals, to make sustainable, healthier menus the standard.
Strategic focus:
- Integrate our expertise across the education and healthcare sectors into a high-impact Public Food Team of plant-based chefs, chef trainers, nutritionists, teachers and consultants, maximising our efficiency and reach.
- Aligning our public food programmes with the 2025 EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet by: increasing the quality and quantity of plant-based options, blending and enriching dishes with plant-proteins (prioritising whole-food sources), increasing access to a diverse range of fruits, vegetables, pulses and wholegrains, and improving access to local and UK-grown produce, supporting British horticulture.
- Moving beyond individual partnerships, we will influence plant-forward procurement into national public health and environmental policy, acting as a strategic catalyst that drives institutional demand for plant-based ingredients.
Pillar 2: Shaping the future of food
Our track record of success with our award winning programme in schools and rapid expansion in hospitals, as part of Plants First Healthcare Coalition, has earned us a place as a trusted partner. We will now build on this credibility to act as a catalyst for wider reform, reaching the influencers and policymakers who hold the levers for national transition. By becoming a leading voice for sustainable food systems, we ensure that the narrative of the UK’s climate and health future is rooted in evidence-based strategies that prioritise plants on plates.
2028 Vision: ProVeg UK is a recognised thought leader and a primary media voice for sustainable food systems. We have successfully shifted public and political perceptions, making plant-forward eating a central pillar of the UK’s climate and health narrative.
Strategic focus:
- Lead national conversation on food system reform, using our unique brand credibility to influence policy and media.
- Our ranking systems and awards will be the gold standard for measuring progress towards plant-rich menus in the food industry, driving a race to the top for sustainability and health.
- Act as a key stakeholder and expert advisor to national decision-makers, providing the evidence and frameworks needed to integrate plant-forward standards into UK food, health and climate policy.
- Support major food retailers and foodservice operators to adopt, measure, disclose, and accelerate protein diversification strategies aligned with health, climate, and consumer needs.
- Advocate for a just transition that ensures food sovereignty and justice, protects worker’s rights throughout the supply chain, and creates equitable routes to market for sustainable producers.
Our journey so far
Since 2018, ProVeg UK’s School Plates programme has evolved from a visionary pilot into an award-winning, nationwide movement. By the close of 2026, we will have successfully partnered with over 120 major catering leaders to transform 100 million school meals; fundamentally improving children’s access and awareness of the benefits of more plants on plates for nature, climate, and health.
Working with ProVeg has enabled our Schools Catering team to access practical expertise to make their ambitions around nutritious, cost-effective, climate-friendly school food a reality. The feedback we’ve received on our menus shows children and adults alike are learning how delicious plant-based dishes can be. These menus also address the eco-anxiety that is increasing amongst our children, empowering them to make small daily choices that help the planet. The ProVeg School Plates programme helps school caterers demonstrate a practical commitment to more climate-friendly service delivery and every school should be asking ‘How does our provider measure up?
We have worked with ProVeg for over two years and the support we receive is exceptional. The recipes and workshops have been invaluable, and we have successfully introduced meat-free days across all menus, which has been very well received by children and parents.
We’re saving the Earth, and we’re also saving us, because we’re on the planet too.
Building on this momentum, we have expanded our mission into the healthcare sector. Leveraging our reputation as a trusted authority, we recently launched Hospital Plates and joined collaborators to establish the Plants First Healthcare Coalition. As a collective, we are working to ensure that hospitals are places where climate-friendly, plant-rich nutrition is championed and celebrated.
Based on our Strategic Pillars for 2026-28, we are using our established reputation and resources to drive systemic change, focusing on retailers and food policy. This will ensure a stronger future where more plant-based food improves public health, helps nature recover, and protects our planet.
