Preceding– and especially following– the massively successful IPO for plant-based company Beyond Meat, more and more industry giants are wanting in on the plant-based movement that has been taking off as of late.
Many large chains have already joined in on the movement. For example, Burger King recently announced that it will be rolling out the Impossible Whopper– a plant-based burger in collaboration with Impossible Foods– to every location in the United States by the end of 2019. Other companies such as Del Taco, Subway, Little Caesars, and IKEA have also taken steps to add vegan options to their existing menus.
Following on trend, other industry giants now want in. Hormel Foods Corporation, one of the nation’s leading meat providers, has announced that it is now working on plant-based food options as well, according to one of its top executives.
Hormel Foods will be developing plant-based pizza toppings and other plant-based products to follow the trend of the consistent rise in demand for plant-based meat alternatives. Rather than calling itself a meat company, Hormel has been recently marketing itself as a protein provider instead.
“We understand that it is a shiny new toy,” Jim Snee, chief of executive of Hormel, said in reference to the plant-based protein market. “It is something that is certainly on our minds like it is everyone else, and there is a lot of work happening both in the market and behind the scenes.”
Additionally, the globally-giant Nestle is possibly expending its plant-based burger offerings in a partnership with the fast-food leader McDonald’s in locations beyond Germany. Nestle’s plant-based offering is the Incredible Burger, which is sold under its child company, Garden Gourmet. Even more, Nestle is also looking to collaborate with other partners on Incredible Burger offerings.
According to information collected by Nielsen Data, 2018 saw a 20% increase in plant-based dollar sales compared to 2017. As we speed through 2019, we can only predict that this statistic will increase even further.
