“The plant-based food boom is heating up. Growth in the segment outpaced all other food categories amid the coronavirus pandemic, with plant-based meat sales up 148 percent in 2020 compared to the year before. Having surpassed the $5 billion mark last year, the overall plant-based food market is set to top $74 billion by 2027.
As brands compete for a slice of the plant-based pie, shoppers can now choose from an ever-growing array of products that tout a taste and texture that’s just like the real thing. Here are a few standouts, coming soon to restaurants and grocery shelves near you. (If you plant to sample any of them, please remember to do so safely: Wear a mask, keep your distance and be kind to frontline workers.)
Beyond Meat inks more corporate partnerships, plans new global HQ
In the ever-growing parade of plant-based food companies, Beyond Meat is arguably leading the pack. After a headline-grabbing IPO in 2019, the brand’s expansion to more grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada helped it weather the storm of COVID-19 — and it’s yet again preparing for a big year in 2021.
The brand has already announced partnerships with Taco Bell and PepsiCo to develop new products based around plant-based protein. Its partnership with Carl’s Jr. is also expanding to include a new burger flavor (pictured above), and Jindingxuan, a 24-hour Chinese food chain in Beijing, will add eight new dishes featuring Beyond Meat products this year.
The company will move into a new 300,000-square-food global headquarters in El Segundo, California, this fall. Notably, the new HQ will house up to four times more research personnel, with the goal of developing even more protein varieties from plant sources.
Impossible Foods slashes wholesale prices, nearing cost parity with meat
Beyond Meat’s top rival, Impossible Foods, has yet to announce any new product launches for 2021, but what the brand already sells will be cheaper. At the start of the year, the company announced it would slash prices for foodservice distributors in an effort to reach price parity with real meat.
Distributors in the U.S. will pay about 15 percent less for Impossible beef, burgers and sausages, and the company requested the savings be passed along to restaurants and grocery shoppers. The price cut brings Impossible products closer to real beef, although they are still about $1.50 more per pound. The company said its production has increased by six times since 2019, allowing it to bring costs down further. Restauranteurs and home cooks have already put its ground beef substitute to use in meatballs, empanadas, bao buns and everything in between.
New Wave Foods hits the market for the first time with plant-based shrimp
After five years in development, sustainable vegan seafood company New Wave Foods is ready to launch its first product: a plant-based shrimp made from sustainable seaweed and plant proteins. Developed in collaboration with chefs and R&D experts, the company claims the product is ‘virtually indistinguishable from ocean shrimp in terms of taste and texture.’
The shrimp alternative will first roll out to restaurants and foodservice locations this year, and a recently closed $18 million Series A funding round will allow the company to ‘scale up production’ further, it said in January.
Oatly eyes IPO, expands product lineup in the U.K.
Oatly has enjoyed a smash success since its first line of oat milks hit U.S. coffee shops back in 2017. In the years since, the brand has introduced oat milk-based coffee creamers, ice creams, yogurts and cream cheese spreads for the U.S. market. U.K. customers saw the latter— oat milk-based cream cheese in plain, garlic and cucumber, and tomato and basil — appear on store shelves in mid January, the latest evidence of the company’s fast expansion. It’s reportedly planning to go public this year through an initial public offering. “
View the whole story here: https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2021/new-plant-based-foods-2021/717686