New retail data shows plant-based food no longer just for vegans
NEW YORK: It’s not just the vegans.
Plant-based food sales rose 20% over the past year, to more than US$3.3bil, according to new retail data from Nielsen and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA).
Non-dairy milk sales rose 9% over the past year, to US$1.6bil, making it the biggest sector of the category. Plant-based creamers are up 131%, at US$109mil in sales, cheeses are up 43%, at US$124mil, and yogurts grew 55%, reaching US$162mil.
Even plant-based meat were up 24%, hitting US$670mil in sales.
In the same year, cow milk sales fell 6%, by dollar value.
“These food have moved into the mainstream,” said Michele Simon, executive director of the PBFA.
“They’re not just for the relatively small niche of vegan or vegetarian.”
Shoppers aren’t necessarily choosing almond milk instead of 2%. Nearly nine in 10 households that purchase a milk alternative also bought dairy milk, according to a 2017 USDA report.
Simon attributes a lot of this to mixed households, with dairy and non-dairy drinkers, but individuals are consuming both. Sixteen percent of the plant-based milk-drinking users on Lose It!, the calorie-tracking app, also logged some form of dairy milk.
Sweet Earth Enlightened Foods, which sells such vegan and vegetarian products as Harmless Ham deli slices and a cheesy Truffle Lover’s pizza, say they are finding new consumers.
“Five years ago, our customers were largely self-classified as vegan or vegetarian, with a sprinkling of ‘flexitarians,’” said Kelly Swette, Sweet Earth’s chief executive officer. “More and more, consumers identify as ‘leaning towards less meat.’”
Food behemoths are moving into the space. Campbell Soup Co, famous for its canned chicken noodle soup, now also sells Bolthouse Farms Plant Protein Milk, a pea-based dairy alternative.
“Campbell introduced [it] to give people an alternative to both traditional dairy milk and lower-protein alternative milks,” said Anita Shaffer, Global Nutrition Program manager at Campbell. — Bloomberg