Vegan Pizza Chain Now Offers Its Cheese for Sale

Canada-based pizza chain Virtuous Pie recently began offering its house-made vegan cheeses for retail sale at its two-story Wesbrook Village location in Vancouver. A variety of cultured nut- and tofu-based cheeses—including feta and chèvre (with mozzarella and other flavors to come)—are available for sale between Friday and Sunday, until supplies last. While the shop has sold its plant-based vegan ice cream pints since 2016, its house-made cheeses—which it uses to top its innovative pies such as the Ultraviolet, which features cashew-based mozzarella, walnuts, and arugula pesto—are a new retail item. “While we call them cheese, they aren’t meant to be copies of dairy cheeses,” Jim Vesal, Director of Culinary and Business Development at Virtuous Pie, said. “They’re delicious, stand-alone products in a category all to themselves.” Customers are encouraged to use the cheeses to create sandwiches, cheese plates, and pasta dishes at home. Virtuous Pie opened its flagship Vancouver location in 2016 before expanding to four outposts, including its United States debut in Portland, OR in June 2017.