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

US retail sales of plant-based meat were up 9.6% to $801.1m in the 52 weeks to April 21, 2019, significantly outpacing growth in conventional meat sales (+2%), although the pace of growth has decelerated from the previous year, when plant-based meat sales grew by 25%.  The strongest growth was generated by higher-value ‘next generation’ refrigerated plant-based meat products (+37% to $212m), while frozen plant-based meat sales were up +2% to $582m, according to SPINS data released by The Good Food Institute (GFI) and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA).  Shelf stable plant-based meat accounted for the remaining $8m (up +3%).  Plant-based seafood accounted for $9.4m (1.2%) of plant-based meat dollar sales.  Plant-based meat now accounts for 2% of dollar sales of retail packaged meat and 0.1% of dollar sales of total retail meat (including random-weight meat), and the retail market for plant-based meat could be worth $10bn should it follow the same trajectory as plant-based milk (which has a 13% share of the fluid milk market).  Plus 11.9% of US households currently purchase plant-based meat, up from 10.5% a year ago.

Source: foodnavigator-usa.com

Lightbulb Moment: I would love to see a survey revealing how consumer reconcile wanting simple ingredient decks and sustainable products with desiring highly processed plant-based meats having 22 ingredients which are shipped in from across the country. Want to learn more about how this impacts your business?  That’s where Culinary Tides, Inc. comes in.