Power Plants

EXCITING NEW PRODUCTS AND INVENTIVE SELLING STRATEGIES ENLIVEN A BURGEONING CATEGORY.

- Bridget Goldschmidt

If there’s one thing we’ve learned by now, it’s that people want to eat plants in all sorts of ways. An illustration of that key fact: For the 52 weeks ending December 2019, U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods rose 11.4%, bringing the total plant-based market value to $5 billion, according to a report released earlier this year by the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA) and The Good Food Institute, featuring commissioned data from SPINS.

Responding to this solid trend, some grocers, among them Albertsons Cos. and The Kroger Co., have even introduced own-brand plant-based food lines, while many tout their plant-based offerings in sections called out with prominent signage.

“Growing environmental concerns around the impacts of animal agriculture and the need to feed 10 billion people by 2050 are shifting consumer preferences, thrusting plant proteins into the spotlight,” explains Thomas Hayes, an analyst at New York-based Lux Research. “Companies like Impossible Foods are looking to capitalize on this opportunity, pushing the envelope to create plant-based products with sensory profiles as similar as possible to their animal-derived counterparts.”

Beef-less Burgers