Juliette Arnold is the co-founder of Plant Based Strategies, a consultancy helping restaurants and food businesses successfully develop and scale plant-based offerings. A longtime vegan advocate, she spent over a decade building community through grassroots initiatives like the Biggest Little Plant Pod and co-organizing the Vegan Chef Challange in Reno.
But she noticed a gap: restaurants wanted to participate in the plant-based movement, but many struggled with execution–menu development, staff training, and profitability. That’s when she shifted from advocacy to industry transformation.
In this episode, Juliette shares how she went from reading The China Study 16 years ago to building a business that helps restaurants make plant-based dining profitable and accessible. She talks about identifying the real pain points in the hospitality industry, the importance of training and community, and how real change happens when you connect vision, industry, and community.
You’ll learn about
- How to identify a gap in the market and build a business that solves a real industry problem
- Why restaurants want to go plant-based but struggle with execution
- The difference between grassroots advocacy and systemic industry change, and why you need both
- How to make plant-based offerings profitable for restaurants (not just appealing to customers)
Guest Links
Social Media
Memorable Quote
“There is a demand. People are curious about flavors. People want to be a little bit healthier. Flexitarianism is on the rise completely. So it's a lot of different things. It's about the menu. It's about training the staff and understanding when somebody says–Oh, I'm vegan–you don't offer them butter on the table.”
Show Notes
📋 [
02:11] Juliette helps restaurants successfully develop plant-based menus.
🍓 [
05:59] Why people want to go out and eat good (plant-based) food.
🗺️ [
07:14] How a vegan hospitality consultant helps you navigate the business.
🌟 [
11:21] Why having customer experience and business training matters.
🏷️ [
16:47] Why “good food is just good food”: it doesn't have to be labeled.
🔄 [
20:41] Her approach: revisiting and understanding the restaurant’s unique challenges.
🤝 [
24:48] Building a global network of vegan hospitality consultants to scale impact.
❤️ [
27:17] Following your passion as a journey.
…
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