How Vegan Training Helped a 5-star Safari Lodge Cater to New Customers

Are you curious to learn how a luxury 5-star safari lodge in South Africa met their aim to be one of the leading lodges offering a vegan safari experience?

I’m Hayley Cooper, Director of Partnerships for Vegan Hospitality, and I’m happy to share with you my recent work with this beautiful lodge so you can see step by step how this process works to meet and exceed guest expectations, as well as bring new guests in the door.

Step 1: We discussed the lodge’s needs and goals, and they opted to hire me to train their entire staff, which is always my top recommendation for 5-star service. This included the chefs, field guides, housekeepers, butlers, spa therapists & camp managers!

Step 2: A lot of my work involved remote preparation before I came to do onsite training. It was so exciting to be creating all of the training materials for them, knowing what valuable information it was going to be. 

Step 3: We arranged the site visits. It was decided that I would split the staff training over two on-site visits, this was mostly to fit around the lodges logistics of when staff would be available as they are still fully operational with guests when I'm onsite, but it also enabled me to try more of their delicious vegan food so I could provide as much feedback as possible. 

Here is a summary of how I assisted them to become a leading lodge offering vegan safaris.

Menu Review

I reviewed the existing menus prior to arrival and as my services are tailored to each client’s requirements, I decided initially I would consult with the chef in person and assess the level of recipe development support that may be needed. 

They have skilled and passionate senior chefs who were very excited to learn about all things Vegan and they did my ''Vegan Hospitality for Chefs'' training. In fact, Head Chef Lance even made some potato milk (see the photo below!) after I told them that this is one of the next trends in plant-based milks, and it was really delicious! 

I also provided a list of typical vegan food items and where to source them locally. I always love telling chefs about which products are ''accidentally vegan'' as they are often surprised. 

After the training, I provided a summary of suggestions based on my experience with the chefs and I also sourced some food for them directly from a South African supplier which is now on their menu.

Wine list

I reviewed their existing list & researched which of the wines were vegan friendly & then labelled the list. I gave advice on what additional wines they may want to consider, for example they had all of the red grape varieties covered except one, so I suggested an excellent vegan one. They also only had vegan white wines on their house list, so I recommended they increase their offering of reds.

I decided it would be best for them not to have a separate vegan wine list, this was due to them not having a massive list so there is a bigger selection if you keep everything together as long as it is clearly labelled. By having all wines together on the same list this will also act as a form of marketing as other guests will take note of this & tell their vegan friends & family as it's so rare to see vegan wines labelled.

As I prepared for their training, I made sure to include my “Vegan Wines Guide”, which is a comprehensive guidebook about the ingredients and processing of wines and how to ensure your wine list is properly labeled, as well as how to communicate to guests about the topic. With this guide, staff can refer back to this information when guests inquire.

I conducted training on wines as part of my ''Vegan Hospitality for Front of House Course'' which I did on site with the camp managers, receptionists & butlers.

Vegan-Friendly Rooms and Housekeeping

After an initial onsite room review, I consulted on animal-free room design, recommendations of sustainable and cruelty-free room products and amenities ranging from furniture to toiletries.

The housekeepers attended my ''Vegan Hospitality for Housekeepers Training'' and we walked around a room to show them which aspects they would need to consider when they have vegan guests staying. Because I stayed at the lodge twice I actually experienced a vegan room on my return visit and it was great to see the changes had been made.

Vegan friendly Spa treatments

I reviewed the spa products to check if they are vegan friendly, and provided suggestions of products as well as a detailed document about why guests would want vegan products used.

Field Guides

I also conducted my ''Vegan Hospitality for Field Guides'' training with their guiding team. They had some excellent questions and are excited to put their newfound knowledge into practice when guiding vegan guests in the future.

Training summaries for all departments were provided along with a file titled ''All Things Vegan'' which they will look over each time they have vegan guests come to stay, which brings me on to talk about the next part of my services which is often overlooked but just as important as the training and consulting...

Vegan Concept & Marketing

After completing a trends report related to their clientele, I assisted the marketing/social media team with market research and crafting messaging to reach the vegan, plant-based, and plant curious markets in target regions, including but not limited to reviewing marketing materials for vegan-friendly language, hashtags, marketing websites & social media to promote on, vegan travel agents, recommending places to contact for possible press releases, influencer partnerships, & social media post ideas.

They have already begun to receive positive feedback from guests on this amazing safari experience that they are providing. Guests are blown away by the attention to detail and it makes me so happy to know that vegan guests are being offered same level of quality experience as their traditional guests.

Experience a vegan safari

If you are interested in finding out more about this lodge or want to make a booking, here is their website: Klaserie Drift Safari Camps | Boutique 5-Star Luxury Safari Camp

Find out more

If you would like to find out more about my services as a vegan consultant in Africa, to be matched with a consultant in your region (globally), or to discuss a strategic planning project for a hospitality group that is interested in becoming vegan friendly, you are invited to book a 30-minute call with me by filling out this form.