Offer vegan options or go broke – Lord Alan Sugar

The Apprentice star and businessman says big businesses must offer vegan options or face going broke as last year’s winner rolls out a vegan bakery range. In a clear sign that signs are changing, Lord Alan Sugar has warned businesses that they must get with the times and offer vegan options or end up like Kodak who “ignored the digital revolution” and found that sales of its products started to fall.

The businessman, who says he has “no plans” to go vegan himself, made the comments at the launch of a new vegan range at Dough Bakehouse in Herne Hill which he runs alongside last year’s The Apprentice winner, Carina Lepore.

Dough Bakehouse now offers a range of vegan options to choose from including a sourdough loaf a variety of flavoured rolls including sage, onion or luxury, banana cake, chocolate brownie and energy balls, all of which will be made onsite by Lepore’s father.

Lord Sugar told the Evening Standard: “It’s become a very important thing, particularly for young people.

“From a business point of view one can’t blame companies and businesses, including our own, for jumping on the bandwagon and starting to produce vegan products. That’s exactly why we are doing this.

“That’s how you remain in business. If there is a demand for a new kind of product like a vegan item then of course you need to cater for it, and those that haven’t will fall behind, it’s as simple as that. It’s a bit like the demise of Kodak, they kind of ignored the digital revolution, and they went from a company that monopolised photography to zero, basically.

“You see things like that happen, and the same will be applied to food. If big companies don’t start observing that vegan stuff is important, they may find that some of their products start to dwindle in sales.”

Adding to his sentiments, Carina Lepore said: “There is definitely space in the market to grow. With veganism, that is one of the big trends, and for us, it is just key that we are always ahead of the curve.”