HappyCow Restaurant Search Scraper: Extract Vegan & Vegetarian Listings

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What Is HappyCow.net?

HappyCow.net is one of the world's largest directories for vegan, vegetarian, and vegan-friendly restaurants, with listings across hundreds of countries. It is the go-to resource for plant-based travelers and food businesses. The HappyCow Restaurant Search Scraper automates extraction from HappyCow search and location pages, turning paginated listings into clean, structured datasets.

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Overview

This scraper targets HappyCow's restaurant list pages (browsable by city, region, or country) and returns detailed records per venue. It is built for:

• App developers building plant-based dining finders
• Food researchers analyzing vegan restaurant density by region
• Travel content creators compiling city guides
• Marketers identifying partnership or advertising opportunities in the vegan space

Key features: configurable item limits, fault-tolerant URL handling, and support for paginated list URLs.

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Input Format

{
  "ignore_url_failures": true,
  "max_items_per_url": 200,
  "urls": [
    "https://www.happycow.net/europe/england/london/?page=1"
  ]
}

Field	Type	Description
urls	array	URLs of HappyCow restaurant list pages to scrape. Add one per line or use Bulk edit. Example: https://www.happycow.net/europe/england/london/?page=1
max_items_per_url	integer	Maximum number of restaurant records to collect per URL. Default: 20. Set higher (e.g., 200) for full city coverage.
ignore_url_failures	boolean	If true, the scraper continues running when a URL fails instead of stopping the entire run. Recommended: true for bulk jobs.

Tip: HappyCow paginates results. To collect all listings for a city, add multiple page URLs: ?page=1, ?page=2, etc., or increase max_items_per_url to cover the full result set.

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Output Format

Sample output

{
  "id": 364629,
  "name": "ARKET",
  "rating": 3.5,
  "review_count": 2,
  "category": "Vegetarian Restaurant",
  "cuisine_tags": "ARKET\n3.5\n(2)\n Vegetarian Restaurant \nLoading\nLacto, Ovo, Bakery, European, New Nordic\nA vegetarian cafe inside a clothes and household shop. Part of a chain based in Sweden. Described as a 'New Nordic vegetarian café'. Serves pastries, sandwiches and snacks, some of which are vegan (yet are not clearly labeled).",
  "price_range": 3,
  "status": "Loading",
  "description": "A vegetarian cafe inside a clothes and household shop. Part of a chain based in Sweden. Described as a 'New Nordic vegetarian café'. Serves pastries, sandwiches and snacks, some of which are vegan (yet are not clearly labeled).",
  "address": "27-29 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, England",
  "phone": "+44-2034029160",
  "latitude": 51.512562,
  "longitude": -0.125056,
  "review_url": "https://www.happycow.net/reviews/arket-london-364629",
  "image_url": "https://images.happycow.net/venues/500/36/46/hcmp364629_2278056.jpeg",
  "maps_url": "https://www.google.com/maps?q=51.512562,-0.125056",
  "is_top": false,
  "is_new": false,
  "is_partner": false,
  "from_url": "https://www.happycow.net/europe/england/london/?page=2"
}

Each restaurant record contains up to 19 fields:

Identification

Field	Meaning
ID	HappyCow's internal unique identifier for the venue
Name	Restaurant name as displayed on HappyCow
Review URL	Direct link to the restaurant's HappyCow listing page
Maps URL	Google Maps link generated from the venue's coordinates

Ratings & Social Proof

Field	Meaning
Rating	Average user rating (typically on a 0–5 scale)
Review Count	Total number of user reviews submitted
Is Top	Boolean flag — venue has been highlighted as a top pick on HappyCow
Is New	Boolean flag — recently added listing
Is Partner	Boolean flag — venue has a paid or featured partner status with HappyCow

Classification

Field	Meaning
Category	Primary venue type (e.g., vegan, vegetarian, vegan-friendly)
Cuisine Tags	Array of cuisine styles associated with the venue (e.g., Italian, Asian Fusion, Raw Food)
Price Range	Approximate cost indicator (e.g., $, $$, $$$)
Status	Current operational status of the venue (e.g., open, closed, permanently closed)

Details & Description

Field	Meaning
Description	Short venue description or summary from the listing
Image URL	URL of the venue's primary photo

Location

Field	Meaning
Address	Full street address as listed on HappyCow
Phone	Contact phone number, if available
Latitude	Geographic latitude coordinate
Longitude	Geographic longitude coordinate

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How to Use

1. Find list URLs — Browse HappyCow by city or region (e.g., happycow.net/europe/france/paris/). Copy the URL from the browser.
2. Add pages — For cities with many listings, add multiple paginated URLs (?page=1, ?page=2, ...).
3. Set item limit — Use max_items_per_url: 200 for thorough coverage; reduce for quick tests.
4. Enable fault tolerance — Keep ignore_url_failures: true to prevent single failed pages from interrupting bulk runs.
5. Export — Download results as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Common issues:

• Supplying a restaurant detail URL instead of a list URL will return no results. Always use category/city browse pages.
• Some fields (e.g., Phone, Price Range) may be absent if the venue owner hasn't filled them in.

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Use Cases & Business Value

• Travel apps: Integrate geolocated vegan dining data into city guides or map features
• Market research: Measure vegan restaurant growth by city or country over time
• Lead generation: Build outreach lists of plant-based venues for food-tech or delivery platforms
• Content production: Automatically populate "best vegan spots" articles with live data

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Conclusion

The HappyCow Restaurant Search Scraper transforms paginated HappyCow browse pages into structured, geocoded venue datasets in minutes. With 19 output fields covering ratings, location, cuisine, and listing flags, it provides everything needed to build applications, conduct research, or power content — without any manual data entry.