The cornerstone of this effort is obtaining pledges from restaurants to not sell crated, anemic veal, or, better still, to not sell veal at all. To assist this effort, you can print these pledges and order a variety of activist materials, including flyers, brochures and No Veal business cards to leave in restaurants that sell veal or give to restaurant managers. Click here for a sample letter to restaurants.

When contacting restaurants, please keep these tips in mind:

1. To start, it may help to get a few businesses who don't currently sell veal to sign the pledge. Not only is getting a pledge that a business will never sell veal significant in itself, but these pledges will encourage other restaurants to sign. Steakhouses that sell meat, but not veal, may be good to approach early in the process.

2. When you approach a business, call or stop by and ask to speak to the owner or chef. Always be polite and courteous. Explain what veal is, and why you are talking to them about it. Ask if you can mail or leave information and a pledge for their review. Address the letter directly to the individual with whom you spoke, and refer to your conversation in the letter.
   
   Depending on the tone of your initial conversation, you can decide what kind of pledge to give them. If the tone is, “I had no idea veal was so cruel!” give them the pledge not to serve any veal at all. If the tone is, “our business will never stop selling veal,” explain that there is a non-crated, non-anemic veal alternative. If the business is buying non-crated, non-anemic veal from its distributor, it could sign the “no crated veal” pledge right away. If the restaurant is using crated, anemic veal, urge them to switch distributors. (If you choose to only approach restaurants to ask them to sign a pledge for no veal at all, that is fine as well.)

3. If the owner or chef is completely unwilling to hear you out, sign anything, learn anything, etc., you may want to keep the establishment in mind for a future leafleting event.

4. When a restaurant signs a pledge, be sure to write them a nice thank-you letter. Let them know that they did a good thing and that consumers respect ethical businesses.

5. Keep a list of businesses that do and don't sign the pledge. Consumers will want to patronize those establishments who have taken a stand against animal cruelty, while boycotting those that continue to support the inhumane treatment of animals. You can make this list available to the public, along with flyers and other educational literature.

6. Organize educational leafleting events outside of businesses that sell crated, anemic veal if they refuse to sign a pledge. Contact Farm Sanctuary to order our No Veal Activist Kit, which will supply you with all you'll need for a successful demonstration. A number of restaurants who initially refused to sign a pledge changed their minds when their customers were educated about the inhumane treatment of calves used for veal production.

7. Get the media involved. If you have an event, or when restaurants in your area sign a pledge, inform the media. Click here for examples of press releases, or contact Farm Sanctuary for further media tips. Letters to the editors of local newspapers can also effectively draw attention to the effort.

If you have any questions or need any additional information or materials, please call us at 607-583-2225 ext. 251, or e-mail campaign@farmsanctuary.org.