Idolized and hated: Vegan hobby butcher Dresden overwhelmed by demand

Over 1.80 meters tall, impressive biceps, hard handshake: Anyone who sees Muckimann Nils Steiger in his orange jacket and blue baseball cap springing out of his Tesla in Dresden Neustadt could think of a lot of what this man does with his free time – such as weightlifting and eat half a kilo of meat every day, which he really did once. But hardly what he actually does.

The 28-year-old opened a butcher’s shop with three friends as a “hobby” at the beginning of January. One, to be precise, that only makes and sells vegan meat substitutes. “After the ‘Vetzgerei’ in Berlin, the second in Germany,” the sandy-haired warrior pushes on the way to a café not far from the “Veganen Fleischerei”.

Actually, the quartet had planned “something small” with the “Veganen Fleischerei” in Bischofsweg. Two trained chefs and a business economist are part of it, Steiger himself studied sports management and runs a fitness studio including physiotherapy. All are financially independent. “The business was not planned to make money, but as a personal contribution to climate protection and animal welfare.”

In the event that the idea flopped, they had agreed to close the shop immediately, continue to pay the rent for the agreed two years and use the room for table tennis.

Bought the counter completely empty on the first day

However, it was already clear that the new “hobby” would not go as planned when an article appeared in the “Sächsische Zeitung” on January 7th about the opening of the “Veganen Fleischerei”. A Facebook post on the article received almost 7,000 comments. Many were positive, but there were also quite a few hate comments. “One wrote to me that he wished me a ‘life’ of my ‘quite meaningless existence’,” says Steiger.

Instead of the expected slow start to sales, however, long queues formed in front of the store on Bischofsweg, which was bought completely empty on the first day. In the meantime, up to 150 daily customers come to the shop, which is only open for seven hours, says Steiger.

A second look reveals: This is no normal “butcher’s shop”

At first glance, anyone who enters the “Vegane Fleischerei” will hardly notice any difference to a real butcher’s shop. The lower half of the salesroom’s walls are tiled white, while the upper half is painted jet black. On the counter are groceries that look like sliced ​​sausage and shrink-wrapped, marinated steaks. Sausage and fish salads actually seem to be made from sausage and fish, and “Gulasch”, “Soljanka” or “Die Grobe” are advertised in jars.

At second glance, however, it quickly becomes clear that many things are different in this “butcher’s shop”. Where the vegan goods are labeled with traditional product names such as goulash, it says “no goulash” here, with the word “no” written in small letters above the large product name. Or the name is alienated – such as with Camembert, whose vegan variant is called “Vamembert” here. Everything that is offered here is made from plant-based products, especially plant-based proteins.

Despite the sometimes hefty prices, customers are curious

In contrast to mostly anonymous Internet users (“What a crime” or “Dresden will soon be vegan anyway”), the customers at the counter are primarily curious and interested. And this despite the price per kilo for various soy-based steaks, which is around two to three times higher than comparable real steaks at around 30 euros.

Ole and Robert, both in their early 40s, come around lunchtime to get two sandwiches. While Ole orders a vegan schnitzel roll for 4.90 euros, which is considered a “seller” and is made from vegetable proteins, Robert pokes a slice of seitan with a small wooden skewer. He tries it, gives another Ole, who also tastes it and nods appreciatively. Seitan comes from Japanese tempura cuisine and is made from wheat protein (gluten). Cooking in flavorful marinades gives it a meaty consistency. The pepper and garlic variants actually taste good, even to self-confessed meat eaters like the reporter from FOCUS online.

Ole has been eating vegan with full conviction for ten years and has been here several times, while Robert is only the second time. “In the beginning it wasn’t really something I really enjoyed, I mostly missed cheese. But for health reasons I have decided to avoid animal products more often.” But now that vegan cheese is also part of the range and he likes the vegan meat loaf made from tofu and seitan, he wants to come more often.

Antonella is in Steiger’s vegan butcher shop for the third time “because I’ve decided to eat healthier”. The 26-year-old is a trainee at the Goethe-Institut in Dresden and also works as a city guide. “I advise tourists to check out this vegan butcher shop if they are looking for something special that cannot be found elsewhere.”

Nils Steiger: “We’ll get them by taste”

Robert and Antonella are among the customers that Nils Steiger and his team particularly want to address. “If we succeed in getting more and more people to eat less and less real meat and switch to vegan products, then we have already achieved a lot.”

Potential vegan meat customers cannot be convinced by making them feel guilty about CO2 emissions, says the 28-year-old. It’s all about taste. “With plant-based substitutes, we can imitate the taste of real animal products by up to 95 percent. That’s why we always offer customers products to try out. We get customers through taste,” says Nils Steiger.

He used to eat a lot of meat – experience changed everything

He himself was a competitive athlete for many years and did powerlifting. Passionately ate 400-500 grams of meat every day. Until he saw a documentary about animal slaughter five years ago. “I love meat, but from one day to the next it was no longer ethical.” He didn’t stop eating meat because he didn’t like it, but even though he liked it.

With the renunciation of meat, the awareness of the climate and animal welfare has increased, but the desire for meat taste has not disappeared. Culinary enlightenment experiences such as a “sensational vegan pastrami sandwich in London” were ultimately the trigger, which is why last year Steiger came up with the idea of ​​trying to produce vegan products himself.

Demand exceeds all expectations – despite competition

What none of the young entrepreneurs had expected: although vegan meat products have been available in supermarkets from classic meat wholesalers for years in Germany, the demand for a purely vegan butchery was immediately huge. So big that Nils Steiger’s team decided to set up online sales in January. “By the end of April we had processed around 3,000 orders online alone.”

The products are made in a kitchen not far from the “butcher’s shop” and the number of employees has increased from a handful to 14. But the demand is increasing and increasing, meanwhile a much larger kitchen is being built at another location in order to significantly increase production. “There will be cooking pots that can produce vegan goulash not for 50 but for 500 customers in one go.”

“Vegan products in every German refrigerator”

Business is now going so well that Steiger and his colleagues have decided to take a step they never planned: to expand the store. Shortly after the opening, the first inquiries came as to whether the Dresdeners could also sell their products in other German cities – “even though we didn’t even do any advertising,” says Steiger.

The new plan, meanwhile, is to start a franchising business. “We already have half a dozen potential buyers. We want our products to be available in every major German city in the future.”

Donations for climate protection instead of “Lambo” in the garage

The partnership agreement also stipulates that the purpose of the company is not to maximize returns. “I don’t need an additional 10,000 euros a month. Instead of a Lamborghini in the garage, the purpose of the company remains supporting animal welfare and climate protection. We will reward our employees well and expand where necessary. The surpluses are donated to animal welfare and climate protection,” explains the young entrepreneur.

Steiger is certain that people will not have to do without meat in the future either. In Shanghai and Israel, stem cell-grown meat is already on the market that is biologically identical to real animal meat and tastes exactly the same. “The advantage: no more animals have to die for this, no antibiotics have to be used for faster growth,” and the CO2 emissions were also many times lower.

However, Steiger and his colleagues have no worries that someone could copy their business concept. “Let them calm down. That is exactly our goal, namely that there will eventually be vegan animal products in every German fridge.”