COK’s Restaurant Outreach Campaign: Successfully Changing Menus & Minds!
 Reaching out to restaurants about adding vegan options has proven to be an effective way to encourage and empower countless diners to stand up for animals every time they sit down to eat.
Compassion Over Killing’s Restaurant Outreach Campaign works hand in hand with dozens of restaurants each year to create or expand upon meat-free menus. Our goal is to help make vegetarian eating as easy as possible by ensuring that vegetarian options are as widely available as possible.
This positive approach has been met with tremendous success. Want to get active in your city? Contact us at 301-891-2458 or info@cok.net.
COK’s Restaurant Outreach Successes
 Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections in Washington, DC: With COK’s help, this popular specialty chocolate shop and café now offers vegan versions of nearly all of its hot chocolate drinks plus vegan brunch items on weekends.
 Asian Grill in Springfield, VA: COK worked with this Asian-inspired restaurant to start dishing out a wide variety of vegan “beef” and “chicken” dishes to compliment nine homemade sauces.
 Asylum in Washington, DC: Now a popular destination for its vegan brunch, the restaurant owners credit COK for helping bring in “people from as far as Manassas and Baltimore.” COK also helped Asylum expand its bar menu by adding a variety of mock meats and vegan cheese.
 Bakeshop in Arlington, VA: Shortly after talking with a COK volunteer, Bakeshop started offering a variety of vegan cupcakes and cookies, launching the menu with a popular Vegan Day celebration in 2010. Vegan Day was so successful that in addition to adding more vegan options, the third Sunday of every month is still Vegan Day and it doubles as a benefit for COK.
 Bread & Brew in Washington, DC: Since 2009, this popular Green Certified Restaurant in Dupont Circle celebrates Earth Day with a 100% Vegan menu on April 22nd—and 10% of the day’s proceeds are donated to COK! In 2011, Bread & Brew decided to take it one step further by taking meat off its menu every Monday.
 Brick Oven Pizza in Baltimore, MD: After working with COK, Brick Oven Pizza jumped on the chance to become Baltimore’s first pizzeria dishing out delicious slices of vegan cheese pizza.
 Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC: Now with five locations in Metro-area, Busboys and Poets’ menu keeps getting even more vegan friendly! After talking with COK in 2005, the peace activist owner aligned his menu with his morals by adding a variety of vegan appetizers, entrees, desserts, and breakfast items.
 Capital City Cheesecake in Takoma Park, MD: COK reached out to Capital City Cheesecake before it even opened, and as it opened its doors for business it also opened up its menu to include vegan options! In addition to feasting on vegan cheesecakes, you can also order vegan truffles, and a variety of wraps and salads, many of which are vegan or can easily be made vegan, and which change daily.
 Chef Tony’s in Bethesda, MD: This popular tapas restaurant jumped at the opportunity to add a number of new, clearly-labeled vegan dishes to their menu after being contacted by Compassion Over Killing. The menu changes daily to reflect what they’ve bought at their local farmers market, so stop by often for new, exciting animal-friendly dishes.
 Comet Ping Pong in Washington, DC: Shortly after COK met with this popular neighborhood pizzeria that specializes in thin-crust pizza, Comet Ping Pong added Teesevegan cheese to its menu! Diners can now create their own delicious vegan pie, enjoying such toppings as arugula, potatoes, and artichokes.
 Dama Ethiopian in Arlington, VA: After meeting with COK, the already veg-friendly menu at this popular Ethiopian restaurant got bigger and better with several new vegan, mock meat dishes! New options include vegan kifto with two types of seitan, greens, and tofu “cheese,” vegan doro wat which comes with a vegan “hard-boiled egg,” a veg combo platter, and so much more. And after dinner, stop by Dama Bakery next door for vegan desserts!
 Duccini’s Pizza in Washington, DC: In January of 2010, this popular neighborhood pizzeria starting dishing out animal friendly slices topped with Daiya vegan cheese. Thanks to COK’s restaurant outreach efforts, Duccini’s also offers vegan cheese fries and jumbo slices!
 Eatonville in Washington, DC: After reaching out to this new restaurant specializing in traditional Louisiana Creole cuisine, the menu got bigger and better—several new vegan and vegetarian options were added including a vegan pan-fried chicken with Hoppin’ John, braised collard greens, and spicy Creole sauce.
 Founding Farmers in Washington, DC: This award-winning Certified Green Restaurant in downtown DC, collectively run by small family farmers, introduced a new VegDC.com co-branded vegan menu! Options include a vegan friend “chicken” salad, a Chocolate Stout Farmhouse Waffle with vegan caramel sauce, a “tofu n’ chips” with vegan tartar sauce. Breakfast items are served all day long.
Freshii in Washington, DC: After working with Compassion Over Killing, this Canadian-based restaurant chain began serving vegan “chicken” and “beef” in its salads, bowls, and wraps. If the new vegan options are popular at the Washington, DC location, Freshii plans to expand them to their other locations across the country.
 Java Green in Washington, DC: After working with COK in 2004, Java Green in downtown D.C. reopened as an all-vegetarian (nearly vegan) restaurant! It’s now a local favorite for busy Washingtonians looking for a quick, healthy, and more humane meal.
 Mayorga in Washington, DC: This coffee shop and café chain opened a new location in 2011 just a few blocks from COK’s office—and it’s currently the only Mayorga in the area offering a wide variety of vegan baked goods such as muffins, banana bread, and brownies, plus a number of different grab-and-go sandwiches!
 Moroni&Brothers Restaurant in Washington, DC: This popular pizzeria restaurant has been dishing out vegan pizzas topped with vegan cheese since COK first contacted them in 2008.
 My Little Bistro in Washington, DC: Family-owned restaurant and shop specializing in Peruvian-style chicken that started offering a vegan version of nearly every sandwich on its menu! Popular items include the Vegan Tuscan Chicken, Vegan Club and Vegan Grilled Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers. My Little Bistro also offers vegan appetizers, salads, and a variety of vegan cakes and pies.
 Pete’s Apizza in Washington, DC: After working with COK, this popular New Haven-style pizzeria (pronounced Pete’s AH-BEETS), offers vegan cheese at all three of their DC-area locations.
 Pita Pit USA: In 2011, Pita Pit took a humane step by adding a vegan black bean patty to the menus of all of its US restaurants (over 100 locations!). A month later, Pita Pit was still celebrating the success of the new animal-friendly menu item.
 Pumpernickel’s Deli in Washington, DC: Compassion Over Killing helped this downtown deli develop a separate all-vegan menu, packed full of delicious vegan sandwiches, pizzas, and more.
 Red Rocks Pizzeria in Washington, DC: In 2009, this brick oven pizzeria expanded its menu and clientele by offering vegan cheese on any of its pizzas.
 Roscoe’s Neapolitan Pizzeria in Takoma Park, MD: Shortly after the pizzeria opened, at the encouragement of COK, the restaurant and bar started dishing out delicious vegan pizzas topped with Daiya vegan cheese. COK worked with Roscoe’s to expand their menu further by adding vegan pepperoni to add to pizzas and paninis.
 Science Club in Washington, DC: After working with COK, this all-vegetarian bar got a lot vegan friendlier. The menu went from having barely any vegan options to being one of the most vegan-friendly spots in town!
 The Sensitive Baker in Los Angeles, CA: This gluten-free bakery is now offering a variety of vegan options after hearing from COK about the growing number of people looking for healthy and humane treats.
 Summer Delights in Takoma Park, MD: Compassion Over Killing worked with this retro ice cream shop, which now offers vegan cupcakes, ice cream, homemade sorbet, and veggie hot dogs.
 Van Gough Café in Baltimore, MD: This quant, family-owned coffee shop added Teese vegan cheese to its menu and is now dishing out delicious vegan quesadillas, vegan grilled cheese, vegan nachos, and more! Plus, Van Gough Café offers Tofutti vegan cream cheese for bagels and soy milk for coffee drinks.
 Washington Deli in Washington, DC: Thanks to Compassion Over Killing’s efforts, this popular downtown lunchtime spot now offers a separate vegan menu including mock meats, vegan cheese pizza, "meatball" subs, and more.
Interested in starting a restaurant outreach campaign in your city? Check out our Guide to Restaurant Outreach or contact us at info@cok.net or 301-891-2458 for more information.
For more veg-friendly restaurants across the country, visit our online veg-friendly dining guides:
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