The SAP Center in San Jose will be completely vegan for two Billie Eilish concerts

The SAP Center in San Jose will be completely vegan for two Billie Eilish concerts

Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish happens to be a huge advocate of plant-based eating. When she takes the stage in San Jose this week for her Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour, it will be at an all-vegan venue.

For two days, SAP Center is eliminating its entire concessions menu in favor of plant-based options. They will swap regular hot dogs and pizza for vegan versions and require all restaurants that operate concessions to change their menus as well.

At first there were questions.

“So you just need a few things? Or everything? And at some point we realized that they wanted to completely change the entire menu to make everything vegan,” says Randy Musterer, owner of Sushi Confidential.

And so Sushi Confidential is holding back on the fish in favor of vegan rolls and teriyaki vegetable bowls. They are excited to see how sales develop at their stand.

“Vegan is becoming more prevalent in the food industry, so I’m really not shocked that this is happening on a big stage,” says Musterer.

But for many stalls, this presented a real challenge. At Arteaga’s, which serves Mexican food, most of the menu items consist of meat, cheese and sour cream.

“What should I cook? What should we do? I’ve never cooked vegan before,” says Alfredo Lopez, COO of Arteaga’s Food Centers.

You now have a plan to make burrito bowls and tacos using sofritas or vegetables. They even ordered vegan cheese.

“I think Billie Eilish’s demand is a big demand. Let’s see how the fans react to it. Because obviously certain fans, I think, are going to be excited about it. But I think some fans will be surprised by this too,” says Lopez.

But restaurants like Vegan Mob hope the response will be more positive. They will be there demonstrating their vegan soul food, barbecue and Filipino fusion.

They hope their flavors might get some people interested in plant-based foods.

“Not only is it healthy and boring, but it can also be innovative and delicious. I think this is a really great opportunity to show what’s going on in the vegan world,” says Toriano Gordon, owner of Vegan Mob, which has restaurants in Vallejo, Oakland and San Bruno.

Billie Eilish is also partnering with Google Maps to highlight some of her favorite plant-based restaurants nearby. Their list includes Vegetarian House, Good Karma, Veggie Grill and Merit Vegan Restaurant. She will perform in two sold-out shows at the SAP Center on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

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