Vegan Star Endorses Food
Bryan Adams Endorses VG Gourmet, Boosting Montreal Plant-Based Food Company's Reach
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A Montreal plant-based food company has landed one of Canada's most famous celebrity fans. Bryan Adams — a vegan since 1989 — has been publicly name-dropping VG Gourmet in media interviews and personally invited its founders backstage at his 2022 Ottawa concert, according to The Province.
Founded in 2015 by couple Chantal Bekhor and Emmanuel Castiel, VG Gourmet now supplies over 1,500 restaurant menus and sits on shelves at Costco, Sobeys, Whole Foods, and IGA. The company is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new Beet Power Burger — made with Canadian-grown black beans and beets, packing 19 grams of protein and 10 grams of fibre per serving.
From a Home Kitchen to 1,500 Locations Nationwide
VG Gourmet started in Bekhor's home kitchen. She was an elementary school teacher who made quinoa and chickpea patties for fun. Her husband Emmanuel tasted them and pushed her to go pro. By 2015, they had a real business — based in Ville Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Shoreline Beacon reported.
Today the company runs out of a 15,000 square foot facility with a 20-person staff. Roughly 90% of those workers are recent immigrants, according to Brantford Expositor. Bekhor says her biggest pride is watching a first-time customer's surprise at the texture — products that haven't been "adulterated, dried, or frozen" during processing.
Bryan Adams Slid Into Their DMs — Then Invited Them Backstage
In December 2021, Adams name-dropped VG Gourmet in a national Q&A, calling them one of the brands "making incredible alternative foods." Then in October 2022, he went further. Before his show at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Adams personally reached out to Castiel and Bekhor and invited them backstage, The Province reported.
Adams has been vegan for over 35 years. Marketing experts say that kind of long-standing, authentic commitment makes his endorsement more powerful than a typical paid influencer deal. For a small Canadian company, a shout-out from a rock icon carries real weight — especially when he keeps doing it unprompted in interviews.
The Beet Power Burger Bets on Whole Plants, Not Lab Meat
VG Gourmet's newest product is the Beet Power Burger, launched on May 5, 2026, timed for Canadian summer barbecue season. It uses Canadian-grown black beans and beets. It has 19 grams of protein and 10 grams of fibre. That puts it squarely in a growing consumer trend away from ultra-processed "bleeding" burgers, according to Recorder.
The company has always avoided the lab-meat path taken by brands like Beyond Meat. Their philosophy is "evolution over substitution" — whole vegetables that taste like vegetables, not science experiments. Industry analysts say this approach lines up well with what shoppers want in 2026: clean ingredients and recognisable food.
A Billion-Dollar Market With Room for Boutique Brands
Canada's plant-based market surpassed $1 billion in value in 2021 and was projected to hit $1.6 billion in total sales by 2022, according to Pembroke Observer. The category has moved from niche health-food stores to mainstream grocery aisles — Costco alone signals just how far that shift has gone.
Still, VG Gourmet faces real pressure. Big-box stores are expanding their own store-brand plant-based lines, often at 30–40% lower prices than premium brands. VG Gourmet's 10-year slow-growth strategy — no major venture capital, steady expansion — sets it apart from boom-and-bust alt-protein startups. Whether that patience pays off at national scale is the next test, The Observer noted.
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