The Plant-Based Revolution: How Plant-Based Products are Taking Over the Food Industry?

The majority of consumers in North America have tried plant-based grocery products. The plant-based substitutes of meat, eggs, and dairy in addition to plant-based snacks and ingredients used for cooking are becoming increasingly popular. In this Peekage CPG insights report, you will find out how often people are consuming these products, why they are choosing to use plant-based substitutes, their opinion on the current selection of plant-based products available, and more!

🗓️ Approximately half of the population regularly consumes plant-based products.

• ~47% of people regularly consume plant-based products.

• ~13% consume plant-based products few times a month.

• ~25% rarely consume plant-based products.

🌟 Consumers seek high-protein content, healthfulness, and taste in plant-based meats

• Consumers eat plant-based meat alternatives mainly because of high-protein (>80%), healthfulness (~78%), and taste (73%).

• 65% of consumers who switched to plant-based meat alternatives said they heard or read it’s good for them.

• The reasonable price (~61%) and environmental / sustainability benefits (62%) were also selected as reasons consumers decided to replace meat with plant-based alternatives.

• Interestingly, dietary needs were only selected by ~50% of consumers who switched to plant-based meat alternatives.

🛒 What do plant-based consumers usually buy?

• ~80% of plant-based consumers usually buy plant-based milk substitutes (like oat, soy, or almond), ~74% of them buy other plant-based dairy alternatives (creamer, butter, and yogurt), and ~72% of them purchase plant-based meat.

• Plant-based snack bars are usually purchased by two-thirds of plant-based consumers.

• ~80% of plant-based consumers usually buy plant-based milk substitutes (like oat, soy, or almond), ~74% of them buy other plant-based dairy alternatives (creamer, butter, and yogurt), and ~72% of them purchase plant-based meat.

💯 Testing plant-based products significantly increases regular consumption

• ≥ 95% of people consuming plant-based products few times a week or more had previously tested various plant-based products (e.g., processed meats like bacon, burger, and sausage; egg alternatives ; dairy substitutes such as milk, cheese, or yogurt) more than other groups, especially those who are rare consumers or never consuming plant-based products.

🥗 Almost all diets consume plant-based products, even keto dieters

• Regular consumption of plant-based products is more common among vegan (~63%), vegetarian (~54%), keto (~52%), and Flexitarian (~50%) diets compared to other diets (≤50%).

• The traditional ketogenic diet involves consuming a very low amount of carbohydrates and replacing them with fat in order to help the body burn fat for energy. A plant-based version of this popular diet, known as the ketotarian diet, is a vegetarian-friendly adaptation that is low in carbs, high in fat, and moderate in protein. This version of the keto diet is an ideal solution for those who are concerned about the high meat content of the traditional keto diet. We observed that plant-based products are quite popular among ketotarians.

• Still ≥15% of consumers with plant-based diets (like vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian) don’t consume plant-based product, which may be justified by the previous figure which you can observe ~45% of people who never consume plant-based products have never tested them before.

• Interestingly, six out of ten meat eaters consume plant-based products.

😩 Almost half of consumers had difficulties in finding plant-based products

• ~18% of consumers could find plant-based products effortlessly at their local stores, and ≥34% of consumers found it feasible to collect plant-based products .

• A third of consumers found it challenging to collect their required plant-based items at local stores.

• ~15% of consumers said it’s difficult for them to find plant-based items at local stores.

🛍️ Two-fifths of consumers are sure to buy plant-based products in the future

• ≥40% of consumers plan to purchase plant-based products (e.g, meat, egg, milk plant-based substitutes).

• ≥40% of consumers probably purchase plant-based products (e.g, meat, egg, milk plant-based substitutes), if they find their desired products.

• Less than one-fifth of consumers don’t have plans to buy plant-based products.

👦🏼🧓 Younger consumers eat more plant-based products

• Consumers who never (~17%) eat plant-based products are more common among ≥ 50 years old consumers, compared to ≤30 years old consumers (~12%).

• ≥ 65% of consumers ≤ 20 years eat plant-based products at least few times a month, while ≤60% of other age groups eat plant-based products.

♀️ ♂️ Women consume plant-based products more regularly than men

• Almost half of women consume plant-based products regularly, while it is ~44% among men.

• Never consumption of plant-based products is slightly more common among women (~15%) than men (12%).

🤑 Higher-income consumers use plant-based products more regularly

• Daily consumption of plant-based products is more common among consumers with $75k-$99k (~23%) and ≥ $75k (25%), while it is ≤18% among consumers with annual income ≤ $75k.

• ≥ 53% of consumers with annual income ≥ $75k regularly eat plant-based products, while this is ≤45% among the rest.

• ≥ 65% of consumers with annual income ≥ $75k eat plant-based products few times a month or more, while this is ≤60% among consumers with ≤ $50k annual income.

💰 Lower-income consumers perceive plant-based products are more expensive

• ≥ 40% of consumers with annual income less than $50k think of plant-based products being more expensive, while it is <33% among the consumers with income ≥$75k.

🔑 Highlights

• ≥85% of consumers in North America have tried plant-based grocery products.

• ~47% of consumers regularly eat plant-based products, ~13% consume plant-based products few times a month, and ~25% rarely consume plant-based products.

• ≥40% of consumers plan to purchase plant-based products (e.g, meat, egg, milk plant-based substitutes).

• Consumers seek high-protein content (>80%), healthfulness (~78%), and good taste (73%) in plant-based meats. Also, 65% of consumers who switched to plant-based meat alternatives said they heard or read it’s good for them.

• The reasonable price (~61%) and environmental / sustainability benefits (62%) are also important factors for consumers who decided to replace meat with plant-based alternatives.

• ~80% of plant-based consumers usually buy plant-based milk substitutes (like oat, soy, or almond), ~74% of them buy other plant-based dairy alternatives (creamer, butter, and yogurt), ~72% of them buy plant-based meat. Plant-based snack bars are usually purchased by ~67% of plant-based consumers.

• ≥ 95% of people who consume plant-based products few times a week or more had previously tested various plant-based products (e.g., processed meats like bacon, burger, and sausage; egg alternatives ; dairy substitutes such as milk, cheese, or yogurt) more than other groups, especially those who are rare consumers or never used plant-based products.

• Regular consumption of plant-based products is more common among vegan (~63%), vegetarian (~54%), keto (~52%), and Flexitarian (~50%) diets compared to other diets (≤50%).

• ~18% of consumers could find plant-based products effortlessly at their local stores, ≥34% found it feasible to collect plant-based products, 33% found it challenging to find them, and ~15% of consumers said it’s difficult for them to find plant-based items at local stores.

• ≥ 65% of consumers ≤ 20 years eat plant-based products at least few times a month, while ≤60% of other age groups consume these products.

• Daily consumption of plant-based products is more common among consumers with $75k-$99k (~23%) and ≥ $75k (25%), while it is ≤18% among consumers with annual income ≤ $75k. It may be because ≥40% of consumers with annual income less than $50k think of plant-based products being more expensive, while it is <33% among the consumers with income ≥$75k.

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