Facing Plant-Based Challenges: Health, Price and Taste

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key Findings

Plant-based alternatives face slowing sales growth

From soaring sales growth during the pandemic, plant-based alternatives – particularly plant-based meat – have slowed, with the largest market (the US) seeing negative growth since 2021. Big-name brands have suffered; some have exited the category altogether.

Price premium of plant-based thrown into sharper focus by higher food costs

Plant-based’s higher price point (vs the animal-based foods it seeks to supplant) has become a bigger problem as food price inflation has gripped countries around the world. Simply put, paying a premium has become more difficult for consumers.

Health is a motivator, but claims are under attack

Health concerns remain the number one reason that people buy/eat plant-based alternatives; however, these foods are increasingly challenged on health-based claims. Composition and processes are under scrutiny and producers increasingly have to defend their positioning.

Taste is a major obstacle; producers are responding

Amongst non-eaters of plant-based alternatives, taste is the primary reason for avoiding these foods. Poor experiences deter repeat purchases. New-generation alternatives, often utilising fermentation processes, seek to respond.

New ingredients, attitudes towards sustainability, and cultivation are potentially important

Developments around new ingredients will help address higher prices; concerns over processing/ingredients may become secondary as the issue of sustainability becomes ever more important; cell-cultured foods are on the horizon which may shift (again) the world of animal-food alternatives.