A Fundamental Shift
For most people, vegan meat once connoted something mushy, devoid of flavor, and decidedly holier-than-thou. It was food for the environmentalist hippies and the health nuts of the world, not for your average Joe. But recent years have shown a major shift in this perception, as meat alternatives have begun to command significant positive attention. The category is starting to shed its polarizing identity, and in doing so is extending its reach and resonance far past vegans and vegetarians and into the general population. Why?
A brief look at the history of plant-based meat reveals a fundamental shift in both the quality of the products on the market and the consumer audience for such products. When plant-based meats first entered the scene, they were geared heavily towards vegetarians and the few vegans that existed at the time. Most were really only “meat” substitutes in name and were more akin to soggy cardboard than anything else.
And then a few things changed. For one, researchers started making incredible improvements in the taste and texture of meat alternatives. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat took center stage as pioneers, whose broad intrigue and appeal created a sort of revolution in vegan meat. Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, captures the underlying idea well – “You don’t need an animal to create meat,” he said. “Meat is very understandable — it’s lipids, it’s trace minerals and it’s water. None of those have exclusive residence in the animal, so why use the animal to organize them?”
This conception of meat, especially when compared to the kale burgers of yesteryear, is ground-breaking. With such a mentality, the sky’s the limit in creating substitutes that can mimic, more or less exactly, their animal-derived counterparts. Impossible Foods’ use of heme – a plant-derived compound also found in blood – exemplifies this, and is a key component behind the burger’s astounding meatiness.
But while innovations and improvements are vital ingredients, they alone do not account for the explosive growth of the category. The second factor is a major shift in and expansion of the consumer base. Awareness has been steadily growing among the population about the environmental, health, and animal welfare impacts of animal-based meat, which has given rise to the so-called “flexitarian” population. While only 3% of the current US population is comprised of vegans, an incredible 39% of the population are flexitarians – meaning that they are actively trying to add more plant-based foods into their diets. Suddenly, the consumer segment demanding meat alternatives goes from a small fraction of the population to over one third of all people in the United States. And it shows. Recent Nielsen data reveals that sales of plant-based meats grew an astounding 24% in 2018 in the United States. The growth of animal meat sales in the same period was just 2%.
The Path of the Meat Alternative Startup
At PlantBased Solutions, we believe that this movement towards a mainstream acceptance of meat alternatives is just the tip of the iceberg. We anticipate huge continued growth in the space, both as the flexitarian market expands and as plant-based products continue to break barriers in quality and appeal.
Our mission at PlantBased Solutions is a simple one: make plant-based products the best ones on the shelves in terms of taste, cost, and convenience. As such, we help plant-based brands develop, launch, and scale for great success in the marketplace, believing that the success of these products will, in turn, have hugely positive impact on animals, the planet, and people. In line with our mission, our end goal is not to help plant-based brands excel in the plant-based space, per se, but rather to excel in the marketplace at large. We believe that for such products to have the greatest impact, they must stand out in their broader category and not just among other vegan products.
Accordingly, we place great emphasis on the organoleptic characteristics of our clients’ products, firm in the belief that deliciousness will always be one of the most powerful drivers (if not the most important) of consumers’ purchase decisions. Cost and convenience complete the trifecta of key drivers – whether consumers are purchasing animal-derived meat, plant-based meat, or any other product.
This idea has important implications. For one, we should not assume that meat alternatives can compete on shelf just by virtue of their veganness. Such products must still be extraordinary and have tangible benefits to the consumer in order to achieve real success and sustained growth. Likewise, it should be underscored that vegan meat companies (and other vegan startups) will ultimately face the same hurdles that any other startup might expect to face. For instance – in looking at the startup landscape broadly, we find that the top reasons that startups fail to succeed include: a) a lack of a recognized market need for the product (42%); b) insufficient capitalization (29%); and c) an unprepared team (23%) (CB Insights). These challenges ought to be anticipated and planned for by plant-based meat startups as well.
Relatedly, all startups must create a strong foundation upon which to grow. This entails – for starters – assessing their market sufficiently and effectively, creating a realistic and well-rounded business plan, and positioning their brand based upon a mix of internal, core factors and the external landscape. And just because there exists a base level of demand for meat alternatives in the marketplace does not make these building blocks of a successful company any less important. (These elements constitute some of our most gratifying client work at PlantBased Solutions, because of how tangible the effects are of clear, robust foundational elements in the successful launch and growth of a startup.)
Effectively positioning a brand necessitates, among other things, a clear understanding of the brand’s target consumer. One pitfall that we caution clients against is making assumptions on target markets based solely upon the fact that their products are plant-based. One might be tempted to assume that Millennials are the right target, but upon consumer testing may discover that the core audience is actually health-conscious Baby Boomers whose doctors have recommended a higher intake of plant-based foods. Demand for plant-based food comes from a wide range of demographics and psychographics, and it is important to consider the landscape carefully and thoroughly before spending precious marketing dollars on campaigns geared towards a certain population.
The Future of Meat Alternatives
What does the future hold for plant-based meat? One trend that we predict will continue is the growing creativity with which companies are approaching the idea of “plant-based alternatives.” An industry that was once characterized almost entirely by textured soy protein isolate and what gluten is expanding its horizons. We are seeing more and more companies innovating with base ingredients like mushrooms, algae, seaweed, vegetables, fruits, and ancient grains to mimic animal proteins in ways that are less processed than more traditional substitutes.
This is an exciting trend in part because it means that the plant-based food movement will continue to gain traction with those who are committed to whole foods diets – those who might normally shun faux meat as being overly processed. The use of creative, wholesome ingredients will keep driving the demand for vegan meat upwards by enabling these products to resonate broadly with health-minded consumers.
At PlantBased Solutions, we believe that the future is plant-based. Though a book could be written on the many reasons why, the clearest and most straightforward is that the planet depends on such a future. We believe that the ideal world is one in which we have re-allocated farmland in a way that fully departs from the wastefulness and cruelty that characterizes factory farming. (The Guardian notes, “New analysis shows that while meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.”).
The ideal future is one in which we cultivate plants for efficient calories in a system that can continue to feed the whole world as the population grows, all while preserving and reviving planet Earth. We look forward to being a part of this movement as we work to make plant-based foods and beverages fly off the shelves, changing the world product by product.
[1] “The Meat Industry Has Some Serious Beef With Those ‘Bleeding’ Plant-Based Burgers.” By Mahita Gajanan. TIME USA. March 21, 2018. Web. Accessed April 1, 2019.
[2] “Plant-Based Proteins are Gaining Dollar Share Among North Americans.” The Nielsen Company. September 22, 2017. Web. Accessed March 15, 2019.
[3] Plant Based Foods Association-commissioned data from Nielsen. 52 weeks dollar sales ending June 2019. Web. Accessed March 20, 2019.. https://plantbasedfoods.org/consumer-access/nielsen-data-release-2018/.
[4] “The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail.” CB Insights. February 2, 2018. Web. Accessed March 10, 2019.
[5] “Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth.” By Damian Carrington. Guardian News & Media Limited. May 31, 2018. Web. Access March 24, 2019.
Blythe Whitten-Snarr - PlantBased Solutions
Blythe Whitten-Snarr is the Marketing Manager at PlantBased Solutions. She specializes in market research, competitive landscapes, industry trends, and positioning work for clients. Blythe is an animal lover, and envisions a world in which the economy is used as a force for good, with ethical, plant-based brands forging the path.
