Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly 2026
ELIGIBILITY
Nominees for this contest comprise venues or food companies that offer a vegan cheesesteak (i.e. vegan meat, vegan cheese) as a regular menu item. All such companies must be based in greater Philadelphia as defined below.Voting in the contest is open to anyone who llives or works daily in the Greater Philadelphia, namely within one of these counties: Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester. All nominees are entitled to a flyer that can be posted to alert customers to vote for the company in question.
VOTING
Voting in the 2026 contest opens at noon on March 30 and ends at noon on April 8. All eligible voters may cast one vote per calendar day. For best results users should vote with the same computer device each time. Ballot items are listed at veganballot.com in random order each time the page is refreshed; however, all ballot items with cheesesteak photos will show up on the page before those without photos. Photos can be submitted by users and will become active upon review by admins.
FINALISTS
As of noon on April 8, the top 3 vote-getters become the putative finalists. They are official finalists if/when they agree to bring four 1/2-cheesesteaks to the championship event on April 13 at the Ethical Society commencing at 6:00 pm. Finalists may also choose, and often do, to sample their product for attendees but that is not required to be a finalist. If any of the putative finalists waive their championship option, the opportunity passes to the next-highest vote-getter until three slots are filled. All companies who finish within the top 12 vote-getters are invited to attend and sample their product for attendees. Additionally, some slots for sampling are available to book before voting ends. At the end of the judges’ taste test, the judges rank their choices and those rankings are combined to select a champion, who receives a certificate proclaiming they have the Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly.
LARGEST CHEESESTEAK
The championship event will also feature the building of the World’s Largest Vegan Cheesesteak. Organizers will provide a roll of 76 inches in length. The three official finalists are invited to bring the innards from their own cheesesteak offset by a $50 stipend per finalist to cover the cost of ingredients. Finalists are not required to help create the World’s Largest Vegan Cheesesteak; if any given one passes on the opportunity, it passes to the next-highest vote-getter as above. One approximately 1-inch slice of this epic sandwich will be provided to each of the first 76 ticket-buyers, who will also receive a sticker proclaiming, “I Helped Eat the World’s Largest Vegan Cheesesteak.”