Tesco has cast doubt on whether the UK’s largest supermarket chain can achieve its 300% growth target for plant-based meat as sales for the category “slow”.
The ‘Big Four’ grocery group had set a goal to reach that threshold by December of this year, a target laid down in 2020 as part of its sustainability objectives to lower the environmental impact of the average UK shopping basket.
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Tesco had established the category objective based on its sales figures for 2018 but plant-based meat has since undergone a step-change in consumer demand.
While growth is still there, it has not turned out to meet the lofty expectations of some years back amid issues around quality and price, overly processed accusations, and more recently, budget strains around the cost of living.
Amid “year-on-year declines in the plant-based market, we’ve seen plant-based meat-alternative sales slow”, Tesco said in its latest sustainability report, adding: “This means we are highly unlikely to hit our target of a 300% sales increase in these ranges by December 2025.”
Plant-based meat sales were initially growing in line with Tesco’s stated aim. At the end of 2021, sales had increased 130% compared to the 2018 baseline, but by 2024 growth had slowed to 94%.
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By GlobalDataThe supermarket added that other plant-based products had seen an uptick in sales.
“We’ve been seeing a growing demand for ‘protein diversity’, including plant-based whole foods such as lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts, seeds and tofu. Many of our customers who are interested in plant-based foods are turning to veg-led dishes, where vegetables are the star, rather than relying on meat alternatives,” Tesco said in its report.
The supermarket said such veg-led dishes now represent 40% of all plant-based sales, citing market industry figures.
Quorn, one of the largest meat-free and vegetarian brands in the UK, has faced challenges of late linked to the category slowdown, as has Beyond Meat over in the US.
Owned by Philippine-based Monde Nissin, Quorn expected in February to recognise another impairment charge on its meat-alternative business, following similar charges in 2023 and 2022.
Quorn has also undergone restructuring and cut jobs to right-size the business in face of the waning demand.
And last week, Beyond Meat cut its guidance due to continuing losses and further sales declines in the US, announcing it had raised $100m from an external investor to support a dwindling cash flow.
