HappyCow
Global vegan-and-vegetarian restaurant directory and review platform, one of the oldest resources of its kind on the internet.
HappyCow is a vegan-and-vegetarian restaurant, store, and service directory, founded in 1999 by Eric Brent. It is one of the oldest vegan-focused web platforms still in operation and is indexed in the Internet Archive as far back as October 1999.
Why it matters
For two decades HappyCow has been the default global discovery tool for vegan travelers and new vegans. The directory covers more than 180 countries and is maintained through a mix of staff-curated listings and community submissions with moderation. Listings distinguish between fully vegan venues, vegetarian venues, and omnivore venues with vegan options — distinctions that matter for users applying strict standards.
Product
HappyCow operates a web platform and iOS/Android apps. Free listings sit alongside a modest paid-supporter tier that removes ads. The company is privately held and editorially independent of any restaurant chain or conventional food company.
Relevance to this directory
HappyCow is listed here in full transparency: it is a direct peer of this wiki’s businesses directory in serving vegan discovery. Our approach is different — an open, structured, linkable retrieval layer rather than a consumer-facing app — but the existence of HappyCow since 1999 is a reminder that this infrastructure work has a long tradition in the vegan community.