Wednesday May 13th 2026
Venue 13's Directors Vanesa Kelly and Ian Garrett
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
One of the longest-standing venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Venue 13, is adding a fully vegan, carbon-conscious food trailer powered by renewable energy to its venue for August this year.
With co-director Ian Garrett explaining that they ‘have spent decades researching and advocating for sustainable practice in the arts’, the venue’s new food trailer is a part of Venue 13’s commitment to net zero.
The trailer will be powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cell and solar energy, serving plant-based food from independent vendors.
Launching a crowdfunding campaign to support the ambitious addition, the venue aims to build on its 2025 manifesto as the Fringe’s first fully vegan multi-vendor venue, which is an achievement that earned them a Veganuary 2025 mention (a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January) as they were able to bring together popular plant-based food producers under one roof.
The venue explained that the past response to this achievement confirmed their belief that ‘great vegan food and great theatre belong together’.
For August 2026, Soft Serve Cartel, run by Nico Barcella, will return alongside his new venture, Unity Donner, to serve authentic, spit-cooked vegan kebabs. Locals may have seen Unity Doner in residence at Considerit Doughnuts since Spring, and can now find them just off the Royal Mile.
Through collaborations with renewable energy companies, Venue 13 has designed a compelling power solution: the trailer will run entirely on a hybrid setup utilising hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels, and electrical battery storage.
The equipment is being provided by these partners, who all have a shred commitment to ‘sparking a renewable technology revolution at the Fringe’.
This forms a key part of Venue 13’s carbon-conscious approach to festival infrastructure, aiming to demonstrate that renewable energy can successfully replace fossil fuels at a festival scale.
Fully vegan food by Unity Doner
Ian Garrett, Venue 13’s solar integration lead, is a Professor of Ecological Design for Performance at York University and co-founder of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts. Drawing on over a decade of experience in off-grid performance infrastructure, Garrett is applying his deep expertise to the project.
His solar work includes designing the off-grid lighting system for the massive origami crane installation at the 2010 Coachella music festival, as well as engineering power systems for the theatrical production Vox Lumen.
Venue 13 views this project as a pilot study to prove to the public that festival food service can be successfully run on renewables at scale.
“This is a model that’s open,” explained Vanesa of Venue 13. “We want to share what works and build the blueprints so that other venues can follow,” going on to say: “Last year we proved that a fully vegan venue works at the Fringe. People came for the shows and stayed for the food, and many came for the lovely food and to sit in the sunshine with friends. This year, we want to bring bigger shows and take the food experience outside and power it with renewable energy. We are committed to being carbon-conscious and showing that festival food can be better for the planet and for the animals.”
This initiative represents a natural evolution of Venue 13’s wider mission to be a fully accessible, inclusive, sustainable, and artist-first space. The introduction of the eco-conscious food trailer builds directly upon the venue’s recent milestones, notably its achievement as the Edinburgh Fringe’s first fully vegan multi-vendor venue and its recognition by Veganuary.
Expanding into the parking bays on Lochend Close marks a return to an operational footprint Venue 13 has successfully utilized in the past. This strategic move outdoors is a ‘practical necessity’ to accommodate an increased number of performances inside the venue, while simultaneously serving as a highly visible, public-facing demonstration of their long-standing commitment to sustainability and community building.
The crowdfunding campaign, hosted on the Edinburgh Fringe’s own crowdfunding platform, has a target of £6,800. This covers the unavoidable costs for parking bay suspension and necessary licenses from the City of Edinburgh Council, as well as portacabins and infrastructure.
an Garrett, co-director of Venue 13 explained:
“We’ve spent decades researching and advocating for sustainable practice in the arts. This trailer is a practical demonstration of what we’ve been working toward. If a 50-seat independent venue can serve fully vegan food from a renewably powered trailer, we believe larger venues and festivals can do the same. We want to prove the model and share it openly.”
The project sits within Venue 13’s broader mission as a fully accessible, fully vegan, artist-first Fringe venue.
Venue 13 will host 10 shows in its 2026 programme this August. It will be presenting work across theatre, dance, and physical performance from international artists ranging from two-person sketch to fully immersive Shakespeare.
The venue operates relaxed performance days and is developing a live streaming platform through its charity arm Future 13 (SCIO) for audiences who cannot attend in person.
For more information on the venues crowdfunding campaign visit crowdfund.edfringe.com/p/venue-13-vegan-food-trailer.
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