HappyCow

HappyCow
Motto The Healthy Eating Guide
Formation November 1999 (1999-11)
Founder Eric Brent
Location
Products Restaurant guide, Travel guides, Recipes
Methods Website, Mobile Apps
Fields Vegetarianism, Veganism
Website happycow.net

HappyCow is an online service that lists sources of vegan, vegetarian and healthy food. Access is free to users, who can also provide content. From the original restaurant listings and reviews, HappyCow has expanded to feature information on recipes, travel, health, and other topics.

Background and content

HappyCow was founded in 1999 to create a world guide to vegetarian and vegan restaurants. That objective has since been refined to be to assist, "people everywhere to find vegan, vegetarian, and healthy food".[1][2][3] User access is free to encourage crowd-sourced content provision. The number of listings has expanded to over 50,000 businesses in over 175 countries around the world. Reviews of these listings number over 150,000. Restaurants remain the core listings group and are categorised as either, vegan, vegetarian, or veg-friendly. The initial definition for veg-friendly was based on a minimum menu content being at least 60% vegetarian. This has since been modified into a more flexible set of guidelines based on the alternative availability of vegan food in the area. HappyCow's orientation in general has gravitated over time to be increasingly pro-vegan.

Other listings additionally include health food shops, juice bars, vegan friendly accommodation, social and activity groups, catering operations and other entities with consideration for animal compassion. Subscription for a free newsletter is available. The website has well established forum and blog sections allowing users to publish relevant material.

The HappyCow Youtube channel was launched in 2012. Features have covered numerous vegan and vegetarian events worldwide, and included interviews.

Financing

HappyCow is a free-to-use, not-for-profit organization in nature but without 501-c status. Income generated is recycled into the running of the operation. Early sources of website funding were advertisement, business sponsorship, and user contributions. The worldwide trend to mobile computing has allowed a revenue stream of sales of native IOS and Android apps.[4] In 2014 The HappyCow Cookbook: Recipes from Top-Rated Vegan Restaurants around the World was published for sale.

Honours and awards

  • Winner of eleven consecutive VegNews' Veggieawards as "Favorite Website" (most recently in 2017)[5]
  • Top 50 vegetarian blogs 2012, awarded by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating[6]
  • Top 100 vegetarian food websites, awarded by web100.com[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Find Vegan Food Anywhere With HappyCow". peta2.com. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Can you maintain a vegan diet while traveling? Yes, but it will take some strategizing". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Spain gets taste for greens as vegans, vegetarians and vegivores flourish". The Guardian. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  4. ↑ "App Smart Extra: Restricted Diets". New York Times. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Winners of the 2017 Veggie Awards". VegNews. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Top 50 Vegetarian Blogs". Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Top 100 vegetarian food websites". web100.com. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
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