Vegan fast food for everyone

Yuicery sells healthy and vegan meals. For this, the Stuttgart start-up relies on branches, also with the help of a football goalkeeper. We tested one of the restaurants.

"They didn't take me seriously," says Yuicery founder Oliver Neuzerling about his idea to build a vegan restaurant chain. "Old colleagues said to me: there's no way you're offering bowls now, completely without meat and fish." But, Neuzerling did just that and has been quite successful. Yuicery already sells vegan food in five branches, three of the branches can be found in Stuttgart, one in Cologne and the newest one in Vienna. The branch in Austria is the first to be operated as a franchise. An acquaintance of Neuzerling runs the store.

The concept of the Yuicery "stores," as Neuzerling calls his vegan eateries, stands out from competitors: an open kitchen area, tiled in black, artwork and neon lettering hanging on the walls, plants on another. Music plays and the lights are dim. "We want to offer healthy food in an appealing environment," Neuzerling says. Yuicery wants to offer a "Starbucks feel" to vegan restaurants. Unlike its competitors, guests shouldn't just stop in for a quick lunch break, they should feel comfortable. "The store concept is not old-fashioned at all. After Corona, we should meet and sit together more in restaurants again," Neuzerling hopes.

Test meal in the Cologne store: the employees take time for every customer, are very friendly. Those who have never been there before get an introduction to the concept of the bowl and an explanation of the individual ingredients. However, this can mean that you have to wait a little for your food.

Just under 20 euros for a large bowl and a drink

Yuicery offers ready-made bowls, but you can also choose your own: a base, either salad, rice or quinoa, plus vegan meat alternatives, vegetables, fruit, grains and sauces. It's worth trying out the vegan meat substitutes. For two euros more, you can get vegan chicken or pulled pork, both of which taste deceptively real and excellent. Other ingredients include vegan cheese, edamame, seaweed and mango. In addition to savory bowls, Yuicery also offers sweet ones. Unfortunately, the ingredient lists are only in English. In the test, even the employee at "Flax Seeds" didn't know right away that it was flax seeds.

In the test, the bowl tastes fresh and very natural, little like flavor enhancers, but also a bit bland. Maybe it's because the bowl was put together by themselves or the sauces don't have enough bang. The large portion, however, makes for lasting fullness. For a meal consisting of a large bowl and a smoothie, however, you have to pay almost 20 euros. The smoothie was freshly prepared and tastes like homemade. However, 6.40 euros for this alone is a bit steep. At the competition you get both bowl and smoothie cheaper. In addition: This is at least in Cologne at the Friesenwall in direct proximity. Neuzerling hopes that prices will soon drop as more and more customers come by. He advertises: everything fresh, everything vegan. In fact, Yuicery stands relatively alone in the market of purely vegan bowl restaurants. If animal-free nutrition is important to you, and if you don't feel like asking whether every product is really vegan, Yuicery is the right place for you.

Yuicery's story is full of twists and turns. In 2014, the brand was founded by a Munich entrepreneur, at the time as a distributor of juice fasting cures, which at the time spilled over from the US to Europe. However, the idea flopped. Just one year later, Neuzerling, a trained hotel manager, joined the company with new ambitions. His dream had always been to have his own shop. "I wanted to create a hotspot where you can get healthy products." He takes over the juice manufactory from the founder immediately expands the product range. Yuicery now also offers vegan supplements. Three years ago, the first branch opens in Stuttgart. Today, the cold-pressed juices and supplements are still available online as well as in stores. However, Neuzerling has sold most of his shares in the supplements company, partly to be able to invest the money in the stores.

Yuicery expands - soon with investor?

Yuicery is not yet making a profit. Business is best at the Stuttgart headquarters. The branch manages about 300 to 350 customers a day. There, Yuicery is already generating an operating surplus. Up to now, the stores have been financed purely by loans and the company's own funds; Neuzerling is only planning to take on an investor for 25 stores or more. Tim Boss, a Cologne native and currently a soccer goalkeeper for third-division team Wehen Wiesbaden, also has a stake in the Cologne FIliale. However, more and more stores are to be operated as franchises, as was the case with the first store in Austria. Yuicery will receive a share of the sales.

For the future, Neuzerling is planning big. "Our focus is now fully on franchising, growth and finding investors." Two new stores in Konstanz and Bietigheim-Bissingen are already planned for early next year, but if Neuzerling has his way, Yuicery will soon go European. He would like to see his brand in Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm and Luxembourg.


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