Trends, Foresights, & Insights: Never Miss, or Misread a Trend Again

Based on data from Numerator’s InfoScout OmniPanel, 80% of US shoppers intend to replace some or all real meat with plant-based meat alternatives in the next year.  While only 36% say they will replace a “small portion” of animal-based meat with plant-based alternatives, 23% say they will replace a significant portion and 21% say they will replace all.  These rates are slightly higher than last year – when Numerator found half of meat eaters ate more alternatives and nearly 40% ate less real meat.  According to Numerator, about half of the people who tried plant-based products prefer animal-based meat, with 21% reporting that they strongly prefer it and 28% saying they only slightly prefer it.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, 29% said they either slightly or strongly preferred plant-based meat.  But this doesn’t mean most people are “dissatisfied” with plant-based alternatives to animal products.  Rather, 62% said they were very or extremely satisfied, 83% said they would recommend them to someone else and 81% said they would try other types of plant-based meat alternatives.  According to the data, 47% of shoppers consumed more plant-based dairy alternatives compared to last year, while 43% said they were consuming the same amount.

Source: smartbrief.com

Lightbulb Moment: The health halo around plant protein doesn’t hold for all products entering the space.  When consumers realize this there will be a shift in the playground.  Want to track plant protein trends going forward? That’s where Culinary Tides, Inc. comes in.