Canada’s Vegan Butcher Wins Big on Investment TV Show

Canadian vegan butcher company YamChops recently appeared on Canadian television program Dragon’s Den—similar to American investment reality show Shark Tank—and gained its requested funding of $250,000, which will go toward franchising the shop. During the episode, YamChops family-founders Michael, Tori, Leia, and Jess Abramson set up a deli case and lured several dragons (investors) to sample their offerings. The Ontario-based shop opened in 2014 and—in addition to distributing to local retailers—sells innovative meat-free items such as coconut bacon, beet burgers, carrot lox, and chik’n parm. This investment speaks to the viability of redefining butcher culture with a vegan spin, a concept also reflected by the explosive buzz around the recent opening of America’s first vegan butcher shop The Herbivorous Butcher. Furthermore, investment-themed reality shows have helped to jumpstart several vegan companies such as cheese makers Heidi Ho, bakery Cinnaholic, and most-recently honey alternative Bee Free Honee.