Major hotel chains operating in China have announced plans to make 30% to 70% of their menus plant-based by 2025 to align with global sustainability goals and customer preferences for healthy options.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) which operates 700 hotels in Greater China plans to increase its plant-based menu items by 30% next year to reinforce its core values of responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship.

The Huazhu Group selected Orange Hotels, its Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) brand concept, to roll out the ambitious goal of transforming 70% of its menus to plant-based options across its 750 locations.

Meanwhile, Dossen Hotel Group, the first domestic hotel chain to adopt a plant-based policy, aims for a 30% increase in plant-based menu items. Founded in 2006, Dossen Hotel Group manages 1,000 hotels across 200 different cities in China and several hotels in Malaysia and is developing new hotels.

Cecilia Zhao, Sustainability Program Manager at the consulting firm Lever China, who developed the plant-based foods policies for the hospitality groups, commented, “The commitments from IHG, Dossen Hotel Group, and Huazhu Group to significantly increase their plant-based offerings is a sign of China’s hospitality industry’s new leadership role in advancing sustainable dietary habits. It’s encouraging to see such alignment with global sustainability goals and consumer health priorities.”

Looking for plant-based food

These commitments, which will encourage more plant-based diets, will take place in over 3,500 properties across China and are expected to resonate well with local and international travelers, as Travel and Tour World reports. They mark an exciting moment for the Chinese hospitality industry toward more sustainable and healthy dining practices.

A recent study on plant-based diets in China conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou by Kantar for ProVeg Asia found that the more consumers are informed about the climate-friendly and health benefits of plant-based foods, the more likely they are to incorporate them into their diets.

The survey, which identified that 32% of Chinese people are flexitarians, while low numbers identify as vegetarians (1.5%) or vegans (0.9%), concluded that informing consumers about the benefits of a vegan diet results in nearly all (98%) expressing willingness to eat more plant-based foods. Surprisingly, 64% of flexitarians expressed a ‘strong willingness’ to increase their plant-based food intake for health reasons, compared to 57% of the overall population.

Government support

China’s food culture is traditionally rich in plant-based ingredients. Data from an FAO study following the national protein supply published by the South China Morning Post shows that China’s protein intake is dominated by plant-based sources, making up 60.5% of the total protein supply. The FAO also highlighted that, in 2021, Chinese nationals consumed more protein per capita (124.61g) than Americans (124.33g).

Despite the current dominance of plant-based protein, meat consumption, driven by the production of cheap animal products (factory farming), is set to rise. To promote plant-based diets to mitigate climate change and improve national health, in 2022, the Ministry of Health of China issued the latest dietary guidelines, encouraging 1.4 billion people in China to increase their daily intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and soybeans.

The Chinese government has also taken many initiatives to promote the development of fermented and cultivated proteins in response to rising meat consumption, deficit in supply chains, zoonotic diseases, GHG emissions, and food security. The government announced its commitment to alternative proteins in its first Bioeconomy Five-Year Plan also in 2022.

The Good Food Institute, which follows alternative protein developments around the globe, conducted a study that found that Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly open to trying new proteins for increased nutritional value and affordability.

Yaohui Yang, CEO of Orange Hotels, said, “We are pleased to be working towards China’s climate goals and consumers’ dietary health. Our goal of making 70% of our dishes plant-based by 2025 coincides with our values of sustainability and pursuit of innovation.”