Plant-based meat, a niche market?

Appetite for vegetable meat

Following numerous scandals relating to the food consumption of animal proteins, such as mad cow disease in the 1990s, the Findus horsemeat fraud in 2013, or the slaughter scandal of 2019, a large part of the population is now gradually turning away from animal proteins .

In France, between 25 to 30% of the population is now considered flexitarian. This category of diet characterizes people who have decided to drastically reduce their meat consumption, from 1 to 2 times a week only, contrary to the traditional French diet. This growing share of the population naturally includes vegetarians (5%), but also vegans (2%), who reject the consumption of all proteins of animal origin: meat, fish, eggs, milk… In this the year 2020 marked mainly by the COVID health crisis, the confinements and the strong questioning of our model of life, consumption habits have had to change: sales in France of plant-based meat increased very sharply between March and April 2020, +169% compared to last year. Thus, we are able to ask ourselves if the trend of plant-based meat is sufficiently well launched to continue.

• So meat substitutes, more than a trend, a necessity?

A hot trend

Meat suffers from an increasingly degraded reputation, which encourages people to turn to animal protein substitutes . In addition, a significant proportion of people who decide to change their diet act in response to new issues relating to our time, such as:

• animal cruelty, especially in slaughterhouses
• endocrine disruptors
• obesity
• cardiovascular illnesses
• health problems (since many slaughterhouses closed during the COVID19 crisis since they represent epidemic foci)

Nevertheless, meat substitutes are still struggling to impose themselves on the market because they retain a bad image with consumers: they appear to be saturated with additives, preservatives, etc. On some applications for evaluating the nutritional quality of a product, such as Yuka, vegetable meat products are still poorly rated because they do not have the same protein intake as traditional meat. Indeed, for flexitarians who decide to change their diet, it is essential not to find themselves in a state of deficiency. Thus, meat substitute products are often composed of protein-rich foods such as: lentils, eggs, chickpeas, soy products, spinach… In addition, researchers discover every year new and adapted ingredients such as: potato, pea, bamboo, carrot peelings…

This trend is beginning to affect the market on a large scale: giants of the food industry such as Burger King , Starbucks or KFC have presented a formula for vegetarians or vegans on their menu. These offers, whether temporary or permanent depending on the restaurant, aim to attract a new type of consumer by offering an innovative formula that excludes all types of animal protein. In France, the brands present in supermarkets are mainly white brands such as Carrefour Veggie for example, but the leaders are mainly Igloo, thanks to its range of frozen foods, Céréal Bio, Herta… a newcomer in 2020 on this market is the Les brand. New Farmers who have the particularity of producing their range in their factories located on French territory.

There are mainly 2 types of products in the vegetable meat category on the shelves of supermarkets:

• alternative products : such as vegetable palets for example
• replacement products : these are offers that are intended to be perfect replicas of meat (in terms of taste, texture). Some companies go so far as to acquire 3D printers in order to reproduce a perfectly identical consistency or even cultivate cells in vitro to obtain synthetic meat.

In the long term, studies show that flexitarians are more oriented towards products that perfectly resemble traditional meat, although they are paradoxically wary of the composition of such convincing “fake meat”.

A long-term necessity

The plant-based meat market offers immense potential, indeed experts from Barclays bank who have studied the issue estimate that the market could reach 140 billion dollars by 2030. Meat substitutes could thus represent by 2030 nearly 10% of the total meat market .

Many actors such as NGOs, or activists try to alert the population on the dangers of the consumption of animal meat. Netflix also presented a documentary called “Cowspiracy” in May in order to raise awareness of this global issue.

We discover the sometimes devastating effects of meat consumption:

• the greenhouse effect, because animals, especially cows, release a lot of methane
• water consumption is immense, not only to water the animals but also to grow the foodstuffs they need to eat
• deforestation, because each year millions of hectares are razed for the benefit of the meat industry

Thus, as demonstrated above, the growth of the plant-based meat market appears to be one of the main challenges of sustainable development.

A market to conquer

To embark on the plant adventure, it is first of all essential to identify consumer requirements, such as:

• the need for transparency : thanks to a short list of ingredients, known and unprocessed products
• the practical aspect : ease of preparation thanks to rapid and possible cooking in multiple forms (microwave, oven, pan), ease of conservation thanks to an expiry date of more than 1 week or even in the form of a product to be frozen
• the eco-responsible dimension : thanks to eco-labels, an ethical dimension thanks to the fair trade label, products made in France or from local trade, to support farmers and French industry but also to guarantee a low ecological footprint thanks to limited transport, and finally, biodegradable or recyclable packaging
• the healthy offer for health : products from organic farming without pesticides, saturated fats or additives

Thus, at ESCadrille Toulouse Junior Conseil, we are able to advise you in your innovative projects, such as the approach to the still shy market of vegetable meat. The priority is indeed to identify the target of these products thanks to socio-demographic characteristics (mainly women, urban, 20 to 30 years old) but also to understand their choices and their motivations for turning to alternatives to meat.

To do this, we are able to offer you market research, consumer research or communication plan services that will allow you to refine your project (preferred distributors, choice of packaging, methods of promotion or launch, communication operations, etc.). Our consultants being students, they are part of the target of these products, and are therefore effective in advising you. In addition, our consultants are fortunate to be part of the Toulouse Business School, one of the best business schools in France.

Our speakers are thus trained by teacher-researchers, who are therefore able to transmit to them the latest effective techniques in marketing or CSR . These students are then able to apply this innovative know-how to help you develop your projects.