More than a way of eating, veganism is a lifestyle. And since people in the plant-powered movement tend to share the same values, it only makes sense that they'd want to find each other -- for both business and personal purposes. But how to do that, exactly?
Clearly none of the main directory sites -- Yelp, Google, Angie's List, etc., are geared toward vegans. So if you're looking for a plant-strong accountant, there's nowhere to turn.
Hence Miami advocate Janay Laing decided to launch Vegan Pages, a new listings website where herbivores across the U.S. can find like-minded professionals.
See also: Seed Food & Wine Festival Day: Miami's Vegans Come of Age
"I often see people on Facebook wanting to do business with other vegans, whether it be for accounting, photography, graphic design or other services; so I started the site to help facilitate those connections," Laing told Short Order.
With vegans making up a growing percentage of the population, it's clearly a niche audience worth reaching.
"Beyond that, the Vegan Pages is a directory that helps people find vegan businesses and events in their area. It's 100 percent free to list, except if a business wants to advertise on the homepage," she says. "As far as I know it's the only all-vegan directory out there."
There are 15 South Florida restaurants and businesses listed thus far, including Bunnie Cakes, Choices Cafe, Veganaroma, Eden in Eden, and others, with more to come. Listings include all the important stuff: a photo, address, phone number, website, overview, reviews, etc.
Businesses from all over the country are welcome to list -- all it takes is registering an account (free). People can also post reviews of their fave places and people. Plus, users can post and search for events, which are listed by category including festival, food, health and meetup.
"The site was launched about two weeks ago and has nearly 250 listings, and more are being added every day," Laing says.
In the future, she sees the site blowing up into something even bigger and better.
"Once it is out there I see people using it to look up information and reviews of all the vegan businesses and restaurants in their area, kind of like a vegan Angie's List. And I hope vegan-owned businesses will gain a lot more exposure and popularity by advertising on the site."
You can check out the Vegan Pages at vegan-pages.com and Facebook.
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