WHY WAHACA IS TAKING A BREAK FROM STEAK

By Jenny Idle, Head of Food and Purchasing, Wahaca

Our latest menu change has set the town talking. In the run up to Earth Day we announced we’ve decided to ‘take a break from steak’. What’s it all about?

Wahaca co-founders, Thomasina Miers, MasterChef winner and Mark Selby, CEO, opened the business with the goal of introducing British people to delicious Mexican inspired food while doing the right thing for the planet. Over the years they’ve taken many sustainable steps along the journey. They point to the fact that 50% of the menu is now vegetarian, carbon neutral certification since 2016, and since April 2022 (when it became a legal requirement to add calories to menus) they went even further by introducing carbon labels too, helping people make more planet friendly food choices.

This latest move to prioritise the planet sees us reduce the beef dishes on our menu by half, and notably, taking all steak dishes off the menu. The announcement this week has caused quite a stir with articles in many of the national newspaper and appearances on the TV news too.

Our justification for the decision was that steak dishes had the biggest carbon footprints of all dishes, meaning they led to the most greenhouse gas emissions per dish. Despite already sourcing British grass-fed beef, the emissions related with beef products were far greater than any other dish. Since introducing carbon labels onto the menu the team have made efforts to build this into our menu design. It was plain to see steak dishes were the most impactful place to focus our efforts.

Evidently, it’s not a simple decision to make as steak dishes made up some of our most popular dishes with customers.

Our Co-Founder, Thomasina Miers, shared “We wanted to look at a way of reducing the amount of meat dishes while still offering truly tasty options for those that still enjoy eating it. Being conscious that meat and dairy products are among the biggest culprits from an emissions perspective has led us to expand our vegetarian and vegan offerings in recent years.”

As Tommi says, it’s not the end of the road for the humble cow with Wahaca. Beef lovers will still be able to choose from a reduced number of dishes: namely the new Beef Gringa Tacos, with grass-fed slow-cooked beef, grilled cheese and salsa fresca, and a slow-cooked beef Burrito.

On ITV News on she added that moving away from steak makes it possible for Wahaca kitchens to use a wider variety of cuts of meat from fewer animals, reducing the number of animals from hundreds down to only six. In addition, it will enable us to source from better farms, taking better care of animals and biodiversity.

Taking steak off the menu is certainly a bold step, but we’re convinced the right one. It’s still to be seen if other restaurants will follow suit.