The Rise of Plant Based Alternatives
By Neil Callaghan Maru/Matchbox | March 2023
January is traditionally when people commit to a healthy start to the New Year, whether giving up alcohol with dry January, joining a gym to get fit (for a few weeks anyway!), or perhaps altering their diet by giving up meat.
We know there’s been a surge in plant-based meat alternatives (‘Plant‑based consumption is growing at record levels across Europe, and the market is expected to reach $16.70 billion by 2029, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.1% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029’ – C5 Group Inc) Even a look at the chilled cabinets in the supermarket and you’ll see the evidence – but are people engaged with this and to what extent?
We examined this using our weekly Omnibus study of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people and uncovered some interesting facts.
We first asked whether people were participating in Veganuary, going vegetarian, or just trying to eat less meat – across those three options, we found that nearly a quarter (23%) of the UK adapted their diet in January, indicating how big an opportunity this is for food brands and the food sector (consistent across demographic groups and regions) For context and by contrast ‘dry’ January had a participation rate of 10.5%.
The main driver of this change in diet is health. When asked why people had participated (tick all that apply), over half wanted to improve overall health (52.6%), and half wanted to improve their diet (51.3%); However, just over a quarter (28%) wanted to reduce their food bill demonstrating how much the cost-of-living crises is also impacting behavior.
In terms of how people were engaging and whether they were cooking vegan/vegetarian meals from scratch, buying ready meals, and/or buying meat substitutes, e.g., burgers, sausages, etc., the results were that 63% agreed with the statement that they were cooking from scratch; 41% that they were buying ready meals and 59% were buying meat substitutes suggesting that a good proportion still want the taste of meat but without the perceived downsides. So, while some are cooking from scratch, nearly as many are buying meat substitute products, indicating they are not abandoning meat – which is an opportunity for supermarkets and food manufacturers to innovate.
At the upper end of the movement, people seem to be on the fence about whether this will save money – 43% agreed that going vegan would save money, and 53% said going vegetarian would achieve the same. But when simply ‘eating less meat’ was the option, 70% agreed that would save money. This indicates that veganism has a challenge with affordability, whereas eating less meat is considered a cost-saving option.
After the January deprivation, 31% agreed they were likely to go vegan from February; 38.5% were vegetarian, and 76% would eat less meat.
It seems, therefore, that the trend to at least consume less meat is ever growing, even beyond January, and the innovation opportunities to provide those people with tasty but healthy alternatives is a key area of growth - tackling the perceived costs of vegan and vegetarian items is something to consider.
The data suggest that the food/supermarket industry has a huge opportunity to innovate in meat substitutes because the consumer trend is to slowly change and flex the diet to less meat for health reasons rather than cutting meat out completely. Product propositions must be underpinned by taste and a healthy choice and offer great value for money to succeed.
A full set of the results is available on request. including results by age brackets, region, and SEG.
The survey was conducted on w/e 27/01/23
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