UK supermarket giant Tesco has just announced that it is launching a new plant-based food range for 2018, but it's not the only one.
Both Sainsbury's and Aldi have also introduced new vegan private-label products in the past week, suggesting that the plant-based trend is here to stay.
Around 28% of Brits are actively reducing their meat consumption, according to a 2017 report by Mintel, with increasing numbers being influenced by campaigns such as Meat-Free Monday and Veganuary (vegan January).
“Despite the ingrained popularity of meat and poultry, a clear trend has emerged of people cutting back and limiting how much of these products they eat," said Emma Clifford, senior food analyst at Mintel.
"The 'flexitarian' trend carves a very accessible and unrestricted middle ground between simply meat-eaters and non-meat eaters, while acknowledging a conscious effort to eat less meat," Clifford continued.
Foodie Revolution
This growing food trend has received a boost from Tesco's new private-label line, which is the largest supermarket range of plant-based meals in the UK.
For its new range, which includes mushroom 'Bolognese' and pumpkin falafel sandwiches, Tesco has partnered with chef Derek Sarno to create Wicked Kitchen.
“When I first arrived in Britain from America, I was hugely surprised at how little choice there was for vegans and those considering a lifestyle change," said Sarno.
“For too long, vegans have been overlooked, with many offerings that are available seemingly created to appease, rather than truly please," he added.
“Wicked Kitchen plans to change all that, and I’m proud to work with Tesco and offer all its customers delicious meals to get them on board with this growing foodie revolution,” Sarno concluded.
Tesco says that demand for vegetarian and vegan options has increased sharply in the last year, with sales of chilled vegetarian ready meals and meat substitutes growing by 25%. As a result, the supermarket giant doubled its offering of vegetarian and vegan centrepieces at Christmas.
Category Growth
Mintel's Emma Clifford added that a number of factors have helped to reverse the fortunes of the meat-free category.
"Lifestyle trends are helping to broaden the appeal of these products. Most notably, many consumers are becoming more vigilant about the amount of meat in their diet," she said.
"Increased innovation, with a big new-product development push from brands in 2016, and growing mainstream availability of these products, has also underpinned this positive performance,” Clifford concluded.
Supermarkets are now starting to get involved in this product-development push. Sainsbury's says that its new private-label range of plant-based foods aims to offer an ‘innovative solution for meat-free mealtimes’, featuring barbecue pulled jackfruit, mushroom sausages and cauliflower burgers.
Meanwhile, discount retailer Aldi is also getting in on the action. Last week, it launched a new vegan range in its UK stores, including organic bean spaghetti, as well as vegan sriracha mayonnaise and nut-based energy balls.
With this continued category growth in the UK's supermarket aisles, it is clear that plant-based food is set to be one of the key trends in 2018.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
