From major fast-food chains to grocery store shelves, consumers continue to embrace plant-based products for perceived benefits in sustainability, health, and more.
Plant-based food and beverages have been labeled as the latest trend for quite some time now, but with 43% of dairy alternative milk purchasers anticipating an increase in their household consumption into 2022, many consumers are cementing them into their routine grocery hauls, according to proprietary 2021 Mintel data.
The global plant-based beverages market on its own is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.67% and is slated to hit $87.18 billion by 2030, per proprietary 2022 research from Market Data Centre. In 2022, the chances that someone identifies as a flexitarian or at least is intentional about having meatless meals is increasingly common. Consumers have their own reasons why they partake in things like “Meatless Mondays,” but in many situations, integrating a plant-based lifestyle is more accessible now than it ever has been. The convenience of obtaining plant-based products is met with a plethora of information across industry and pop culture publications, as well as social media platforms (#plantbased currently has over 4.5 billion views on TikTok), and has fueled interest in adopting this practice as a more sustainable and healthy option compared to a diet that overvalues animal products.
Why in recent years has this category exploded? In the age of better-for-you products starting to take a front seat to their traditional counterparts that are filled with sugar and unwanted ingredients, consumers are ready to welcome new options in the interest of their health. Proprietary 2022 Mintel data indicated approximately 21% of adult consumers in the United States follow some sort of reduced meat diet, and constant innovation has opened this category up to nonbelievers who weren’t fans of the traditional options that made up the majority of this market for so long like tofu and veggie burgers.
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