If you own a vegan business, you know it’s not always smart to indulge in trends. In the last couple of years, companies have popped up around the country touting business models that have a lower environmental impact. A vegan diet, in-and-of-itself, is way more environmentally friendly than the average meat-inclusive western diet, as studies show. Even when compared to local diets, vegan diets have been shown to have a smaller impact (though some locavores would dispute this).

Today’s typical conscientious consumer cares less about finding cruelty-free vegan products and more about buying local. If this consumer’s goods come from nearby, he/she can throw other moral concerns out the window, basking in the glow of an “End of Suburbia,” anti-Wal-Mart disposition.

Approximately one month ago, Jordana Reim of Planet Verge challenged Dylan Mandel of The Lives of Famous Men to go vegan for 30 days. Becoming vegan has its ups and downs, but if a drummer traveling on the road with his band can do it, this lifestyle change might not be too hard after all. Mandel had some insightful advice for businesses as well as people interested in going vegan.

We all love a nice relaxing glass of vino every now and again. But if you are an avid vegan AND a wine enthusiast, like myself, this is one vegan news story you are going to want to hear. Whether you prefer drinking a glass of wine at the end of a long day, or using it in your favorite vegan dishes, know that your wine may not be as vegan as you would like to think.

As the years go by, vegan shopping, whether in stores or online, is becoming more and more convenient. When I first went vegan, it seemed nearly impossible to obtain nutritional information on foods or animal ingredients and testing information on merchandise.

How do you stand out in the vegan business scene when so many kinds of vegan products are already offered? Well, one way is to consider vegetarian nutrition for dogs—and sell vegetarian dog food. That’s exactly what the Humane Society of the United States did, with Humane Choice, a organic dog food brand made with fresh vegetables.

There are many ways consumers can influence the vegan products sold by a store or business. In fact, if vegan products are what a business’s core customers want – and express they want – a store can go from carrying very few vegan items to carrying a large selection and altering its focus to vegan marketing.

Vegan Purchase Power

One easy way to encourage a business to sell more vegan products is by purchasing the vegan items that it already offers. If a store you like to shop at puts out a few new vegan products, spread the word – encourage all your vegan friends to buy them. Business owners pay attention to what sells. If vegan products sell, businesses will offer more of them.

Some people frown upon non-vegan businesses selling vegan products. After all, these businesses probably don’t know what they’re getting into. Worse, they might not have a clue about what veganism is all about. As a flexitarian, do I hold these probable truths against non-vegan businesses? Not really.

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Twitter has helped vegan products, and the vegan movement in general, make huge strides in mainstream  culture.

Twitter in and of itself is a simple concept that – love it or hate it – has changed communication. It may oversimplify things, but it also connects people who might otherwise not be connected: bands to artists, business owners to consumers and, of course, vegans to products and resources they might otherwise not have access to.

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