This is for you if you're a restaurant or food brand with a vegan option nobody loves
Vendy Award winnerJames Beard House featured chef
This is vegan Culinary Consulting That Sells to Meat-Eaters
I'll help you build vegan menus and help you launch plant-based products so bangin' your meat-eating customers order them on purpose.
Start with a free 45-minute teardown of your menu or product line.
Book My Free Menu TeardownFree45 minutes on ZoomI only offer this for 2 consulting clients a quarter
As featured in
Your free Menu TeardownMenu, Interrupted
45 minutes. Your menu. Here's what we'll dig into.
This isn't a sales call wearing a fake mustache & trenchcoat. It's me, your menu, and a somewhat brutally honest red pen.
The "Veto Vote" leak Why 1 vegan at a table of 6 is quietly walking 5 paying covers down the street, and how to plug that hole.
The 56% menu mistakeThe layout move almost every restaurant makes that buries its own vegan dishes (research says it can cut orders by up to 56%).
The Best-Seller Swap How to turn the dish people already drive across town for into a vegan version meat-eaters order on purpose & freak out about (in a good way).
Margin math Why your vegan dish doesn't have to cost more than the burger (and how it can have wayyyy better margin for your business).
The Friday Night Test Will your line cooks actually nail this at 8pm with 40 tickets hanging? If not, we fix the recipe and workflow, so your team loves it as much as your customers do.
Blop-proofing (for food brands) What happens to your flavor between the test kitchen and a production run, and how to keep your masterpiece from turning into a soggy drop ceiling tile.
PLUS: the menu words that make meat-eaters skip a dishAnd what to write instead, so your vegan special reads like a reason to come in, not a warning label.
All of that, I hook you up with for free, in 45 minutes.
Show Me What's WrongNot a sales pitchI do some homework for you in advance, so our call is seriously useful. You keep every idea2 client spots a quarter
The problemLivin' on a Vegan Prayer
"We put a vegan option on the menu. Nobody orders it."
Dear restaurant owner,
Lemme guess.
You added a portobello burger, or some strangely wet looking cauliflower buffalo wings.
Or a grain bowl. Or a lifeless and somewhat poo-smelling frozen patty from the same distributor every other spot in town uses, with all the personality of a grey section of flooring from a worn out office complex.
Here's how that usually goes:
The vegans try it once, shrug, and leave a 3-star review that says "at least they had something."
The meat-eaters walk past it like it's a parking ticket on someone else's car.
And it gets 86'd faster than your old Blockbuster card.
Quick bit of napkin math for ya.
A table of 6 coworkers is picking where to eat. One of them is vegan.
Your place has "a salad, I think?"
So all 6 go somewhere else.
Happen twice a week? That's 624 covers a year walking out the door.
Not because of the vegan. Because of your menu.
Read that again.
Vegan diners even have a name for the spots that get this right: their go-to with "Omni friends."
You wanna be that spot. Not the place with the sucky salad that vegans have to ask for you to hold the cheese on. Uh, and the dressing too.
His plant-based food never leaves anyone missing the meat!
Chloe Coscarelli, vegan restaurateur & cookbook author
The Omnivore Test
Would a hungry meat-eater pick this over the burger next to it?
- Portobello burger86
- Frozen vendor patty86
- Cobweb-ridden "Vegan" section salad · 86
- Vegan take on your best sellerFIRE
- Signature dish nobody else hasFIRE
The fixThe Fresh Prince of Bell Peppers
Why your vegan dish isn't selling, and the test you need to run that fixes it
Let's think about this another way:
Most restaurants don't have a vegan problem. They have an omnivore problem.
Vegan dishes get designed for vegans. But vegans are usually the smallest group at the table. The people you need to win over have never once thought "I'd sure love me some tofu right now."
So every menu item I build has to pass the Omnivore Test. If the answer is no, it just doesn't go on your menu. That's the bar I held at the Cinnamon Snail truck for 10 years, where by a MILE, most of the people in line weren't vegan, or even that open-minded about it.
Kill the portobello burger. Everyone has one. Nobody crosses town for it. I build vegan versions of dishes people already crave, with real depth and complexity.
Ditch the beyond patty. It's the same as everyone else's, and the vendor can change the formula (or price) on you without asking. You get an absolute banger of a signature item instead.
Pick up your "V" section by its head, and throw it into the dumpster out back. ProVeg research found separating plant-based items can cut how often they're ordered by up to 56%. Names and placement should sell the dish, not warn people about how much it probably sucks.
Build it for your line. Recipes costed for your margins and written to be easy for your actual cooks on a slammed Friday night. Not cooks staring at a block of tofu like it's IKEA instructions in Swedish.
How it worksMenu Kids on the Block
4 courses from "nobody orders it" to "can I get 2 of those?"
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First course · free
1The Menu Teardown
45 minutes on Zoom. Send me your menu (or your product idea) ahead of time. I'll tell you what I'd cut, what I'd fix, and where the opportunities are. You keep every idea, whether we work together or not.
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Second course
2Recipe development
I build and test your dishes or products in my test kitchen until they pass the Omnivore Test. You taste. We tweak. We repeat until it's absurdly tasty, and ready to go ballistic on your menu.
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Third course
3Rollout
Recipe cards, prep sheets, SOPs and hands-on training, so your crew nails it the 500th time, not just the first. In person in NJ, NY, CT or PA, or remote anywhere else.
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Dessert
4People order it
On purpose. Including the guy who says "I'm really not a vegetable person."
"Adam has been a pleasure to work with in designing the Pennsy. His food and ingredients are always an amazing surprise day over day. His creative spirit is unmatched to me thus far. His love and passion for our art is seldom found and clearly is influenced by rainbows, unicorns and probably puppies at some point in his life... This gem is a genius and I am proud to also call him a friend."Nicolas Geeraerts · Hospitality director, entrepreneur
Your first course is on me.
Book My Free Menu Teardown45 minutesNo costNo pressureStraight-up brilliant insight on your menu
ClientsKitchen Confidential
Restaurants and brands I've cooked up vegan stuff for
Restaurants & cafesSaved by the Bell Pepper
Vegan dishes that pull their weight on your menu
Look, you don't need to go vegan.
You need a few vegan dishes that actually earn their spot on the menu. The kind the guy in the Mets hat orders twice and then asks "wait, this is VEGAN?"
What I can help with:
- A vegan version of your best seller (the one people already come in for)
- 1 standout dish, or a full plant-based lineup that mixes right into your menu like a seamless chameleon that prints you money
- Naming, descriptions and placement that sell
- Food costing and prep planning so it makes you money, without driving your crew insane
- Staff training so servers can answer "is this vegan?" without running to the kitchen
- Kitchen standards, SOPs and waste reduction
- New concept or food truck? My partner covers layout and design for everything from fast casuals to Michelin star restaurants.
"Adam Sobel is the original mad scientist-chef-wizard of the NY restaurant scene."
Terry Hope Romero, chef & cookbook author
Story time
The empanada glow-up
When my friend Ariel at Nuchas wanted a vegan product line, he called me. We'd met slinging food on the streets of NYC years earlier.
The challenge: empanada fillings love to turn into one uninspiring, homogeneous blob. I wanted them juicy, saucy and marinated without risking rupturing.
So I tested preparation after preparation until they held up. Korean barbecue seitan with housemade kimchi. Ancho chili baked tofu with roasted lime and black beans. Curry leaf chana with coconut milk.
8 Cinnamon Snail empanadas, shipped nationwide.
As covered by VegNews
Food brandsPack to the Future
Vegan products that taste like a chef made them (for a good reason)
A recipe that kills in a test kitchen can melt into a pathetic mush by the time it hits a production run.
I build flavor that holds up and is tested to perform well with vegans and non-vegans alike. From my test kitchen stovetop to your co-packer to somebody's freezer in Ohio.
What I can help with:
- New vegan product lines, from concept to final recipe
- Veganizing products you already sell
- Flavor development for sauces, fillings, baked goods, frozen and grab-and-go
- Recipes that work for your production process, not just in my imagination
"Adam, is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most innovative and creative chefs I know."
Sara Sohn, food manufacturer & vegan marshmallow goddessGot a product idea? Let's poke holes in it before your co-packer does.
Book My Free Menu TeardownProduct teardowns count too45 minutesFree
ReviewsLove Snack
What chefs, restaurateurs and food makers say about working with Adam
"Chef Adam Sobel is nothing short of a culinary genius! His creativity knows no bounds and he understands how to create unique and craveable flavor like no other chef can. Adam is both an artist and a scientist, his plant-based food never leaves anyone missing the meat! I've personally stood in long lines to try Adam's showstopping creations, and everything he makes always lives up to the hype. Vegans and meat eaters alike crave Adam's food because it's just. That. Good. And not only is Adam a rockstar chef that always nails the secret sauce, he's also the most upstanding guy I've met in the biz with the highest code of ethics, moral character, and professionalism. I will always jump at the chance to work with Adam!"
"As a classically trained chef and omnivore, I've always known that vegan food is healthy, but the enduring question for me was whether it can be delicious. If Adam Sobel is the chef, the answer is YES."
"Adam, is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most innovative and creative chefs I know. His vegan creations will delight your eyes, pleasure your palate, and feed your soul."
"Adam Sobel is the original mad scientist-chef-wizard of the NY restaurant scene. His inspired cuisine of the Cinnamon Snail defined vegan comfort food as accessible, wildly creative, and crave-worthy for both vegans and omnivores alike."
"Adam Sobel is the OG of perfect vegan food. If there's ever a skeptical plant eater, get them some of Sobel's gourmet, tasty, gorgeous grub. Not only does it look stunning, it tastes magical."
Don't take my word for it. Take theirs. Then take the free call.
Okay, I'm In: Book My Teardown2 consulting spots a quarterWhen they're gone, the next opening is next quarter
Adam, why TF are you so picky?
Hold On There, vegan chicken nugget
I only take on 2 consulting clients a quarter, and I personally develop and test every recipe.
No junior associates. No templated "plant-based menu package" with your logo slapped on it.
I'd rather work with 2 people who are all in than 20 who want a magic sauce they can squirt on a sucky frozen veggie burger.
So before you book, let's make sure we're a fit.
We're a fit if:
- You run a restaurant, cafe, food truck or food manufacturing brand
- ✓You want vegan dishes or products that sell to everyone, not just vegans
- ✓You care how the food actually tastes
- ✓You're ready to put the work in with your team
- You want me to make your vegan menu "healthier" by removing 98% of the flavor. I'm just not the guy for you.
Your chefWho You Gonna Call?
The chef who's fed vegan food to NYC meat-eaters since 2010
I've been cooking professionally vegan for over 25 years. In 2008 I started catering, and a couple of years later, I launched the Cinnamon Snail food truck in NYC.
Most of the folks in our insanely long line weren't vegan. They were construction workers, Wall Street guys and tourists who smelled the Korean BBQ seitan from a block away. That line was my test kitchen for a decade.
This ain't my first rodeo:
- Vendy Award, Best Food Truck in NYC
- Cooked at the James Beard House
- Represented the USA at the World Street Food Congress in the Philippines
- Taught at ICE and De Gustibus
- Wrote the popular cookbook Street Vegan
- Featured in the NYT, Wall St. Journal, Food Network & PBS
Now I help restaurants and food brands do what my truck did: make vegan food that people who don't think they like vegan food can't stop ordering.
Every vegan dish that sells on a non-vegan menu means fewer animals on plates. That's the part that gets me out of bed and supremely pumped.
In person in NJ, NY, CT & PARemote anywhereI've flown as far as France to develop recipes for clients
FAQWhat's the deal with this...
Questions restaurant owners and food brands ask me
What happens on the Menu Teardown?+
You send me your menu, current vegan items, or product concept ahead of time. On the 45-minute Zoom, I tell you what I'd cut, what I'd fix and what I'd add. If it makes sense to work together after, I'll tell you what that looks like. If not, you still walk away with some awesome ideas and insight from someone who wants your business to kick ass. No 40-minute sales pitch. Pinky swear.
My customers aren't vegan. Why would I bother?+
That's exactly who I design for. The goal isn't feeding the 1 vegan at the table. It's not losing the other 5 people she brought with her, and giving the meat-eaters something they actually want to order.
Will vegan dishes cost me more to make?+
They don't have to. I cost every recipe for your margins and design prep around what your line already does. Beans, grains and veg are some of the cheapest stuff in your walk-in. The trick is making them taste like a reason to come in.
My crew isn't trained in plant-based cooking.+
That's normal. Most culinary training skips it. Recipes, prep sheets, SOPs and hands-on training are part of the rollout so your crew nails it every shift, not just when I'm standing there.
Do you work outside New Jersey and New York?+
Yep. In person in NJ, NY, CT and PA. Remote anywhere. I've traveled as far as France for in-person recipe development, so if the project's right, I'll pack a knife roll.
Can you develop products for production or a co-packer?+
Yes. I develop recipes with your production process in mind, so it still tastes like a chef made it after it scales, instead of looking vaguely like bubbly old hummus.
What does consulting cost?+
Every project is different, so we'll scope it on the Menu Teardown. No surprise invoices, no mystery retainer, no line item called "strategy synergy" that makes you guess WTF I am talking about.
Is everything 100% vegan?+
Always. No meat, dairy, eggs or honey in anything I develop. If you need someone to make you non-veg recipes, well, that's not me.
Last callDon't You (Forget About Your Menu)
Your vegan dish can keep sitting there, or it can start selling
Here's the dealy-
Another menu cycle with that God forsaken portobello burger is another few months of groups picking the place down the street.
Another product launch with a "fine" lame-ass recipe is a lot of inventory that tastes fine.
Or you can spend 45 minutes with me.
Close your eyes for a sec and visualize:
- More tables of 6 that actually stay.
- More "wait, this is seriously VEGAN?" from the guy who just updated his yelp review from 3 to 5 stars.
- More plates coming back to the dish pit licked clean.
- Fewer specials getting 86'd before the ink dries on the menu.
"Adam, why on Earth would you give away a $480 hour for free?"
Because I'm terrible at business. *clears throat*
But for real: I only take on 2 consulting clients a quarter, and this call is how I find them. Plus, every vegan dish that sells on a non-vegan menu is fewer animals on plates. That's a win for me and the animals even if we never work together.
I'll look at what you've got, tell you exactly what I'd do, and you keep it all either way.
If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. Which, right now, is a portobello burger with abandonment issues.
2 spots a quarter. Let's see if yours is gonna be one of them.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... hit the darn button.
Book My Teardown AlreadyPick a timeSend your menuShow up hungry for insight
P.S. TL;DR? Free 45-minute Menu Teardown. I show you how to make your vegan dishes (or products) sell to meat-eaters. You keep the advice either way. Only 2 client spots a quarter. And every week you wait is another table of 6 eating somewhere else that took the time to plan for them.
P.P.S. Every vegan dish that outsells the burger next to it is a few less animals on a plate. Easily the yummiest form of activism out there, if you ask me.
Adam Sobelvegan chef, lover of Border Collies, teller of dad jokes
Rather send me a note first?
Tell me about your restaurant or brand and what you're working on. I usually reply within 24 hours.