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Dairy alternatives seem to be heading northwards
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Tuesday, 24 January, 2023, 13 : 00 PM [IST]
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K S Narayanan
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Plant-based meats (i.e., products which have the properties of animal-based items but are sourced purely from plants) and plant-based dairy products (i.e., products using plant-based alternatives to derive the whole range of dairy products from milk, yogurt, cheese, paneer, and so on) have been the rage all across – particularly the Western world over the last couple of years.
India was not far behind; we, Indians, have been introduced to this category of food products by a number of startups that entered this arena. A lot of influence was added using Bollywood and cricket stars, who have taken up promoting this category to the masses. In addition, major QSR brand Dominos introduced a plant-based option as part of their pizza range and ITC introduced an SKU or two as part of their frozen range. Albeit with little success.
Plant-based alternatives started to make deeper inroads during the pandemic when there was a concern for health, well-being and hygiene, and, moreover, a lot of consumption was limited to indoors, with out-of-home consumption severely impaired. Furthermore, the talk of how strong an environmental impact plant-based options have over real meat was an added selling point, particularly to the younger generation of consumers who are environmentally conscious to a greater degree.
This gave plant-based alternatives the necessary fillip with a lot of media bites and also became a strong conversation piece across all forms of media.
However, the situation in more developed markets, which saw the rapid rise in the introduction, consumption, and acceptance of plant-based alternatives, seems to be flattening out over the last two quarters. For instance, Beyond Meat Inc., a Los Angeles–based producer of plant-based meat substitutes listed on NASDAQ, lost over 75% of its share value in 2022.
Particularly so with the retail-focused D2C brands in this segment. About two-thirds of the plant-based meat products are in the frozen category and the rest are in the chilled section. Additionally, apart from the largely funded startups in this space, we have also witnessed the entry of large CPG behemoths such as Unilever, Nestle, and more, who have acquired some of the challenger brands and entered this category.
Subsequently, all leading QSRs brands such as Domino’s, McDonald's, Burger King, and Starbucks have all been adding plant-based meat options to their menus. Ikea, which is amongst the top 10 food chains globally, has introduced a lot of plant-based options in its stores and is targeting a 50% switch to plant-based options over the next 3 to 5 years.
Thus, what we can infer is that the food service channel is continuing its efforts to introduce the consumer to different plant-based options, with possibly a large number of trials being initiated. Notably, any major food trend initially starts off first in the out-of-home setting and then only gravitates inwards into the house kitchen or refrigerator.
Plant-based meat is made from proteins isolated from plant sources, including soy and peas, and dairy-product alternatives are derived primarily from oats, almonds, rice, and soy. Mimicking the taste and texture of what meat products actually taste like requires a whole lot of scientific engineering, processing, the addition of taste-maskers and enhancers, a whole range of chemical additives, colour, flavour, taste-enhancers and so on.
In summary, many of these products are ultra-processed. A cursory glance at the ingredient list of one of the leading brands reveals, for instance, that a burger patty almost reads like a postgraduate’s chemistry textbook. Furthermore, currently, pricing is also seen as an issue with plant-based alternatives, on average, priced about 2 to 5 times higher than the real ones. I believe that these are two challenges that the category also has to surmount in its journey to becoming mainstream.
However, as the struggles of plant-based meat continue, the situation with regard to plant-based dairy alternatives seems to be gaining traction across the world, including India. In US market, plant-based alternatives are already about 16% of total retail milk sales. Cheese and other plant-based products are continuing to show healthy growth and acceptance.
Even in India, we have witnessed a number of startups in the alternative dairy category offering a range of products. Unlike plant-based meats, several plant-based milks seem to have a much cleaner label, and with consumers aware of their lactose intolerances, they seem to prefer alternatives to milk which are derived from animals.
However, the price premium issue still needs to be addressed. In fact, I have now come across an “Oats-based fresh milk” option available in Bangalore, which is at a nominal premium to fresh organic cow milk and is a relatively clean label. This is a good start to addressing the price premium of plant-based alternatives.
The question of what is next for this industry and category arises. Being another food product with aspirations of becoming mainstream, marketers would first need to tackle the issue of price, taste, and health in equal measure. Consumers will not pay a premium for a product that delivers inferior taste or texture or nutrition parameters unless it is ordered by the doctor.
Clearly, the quality of products in the market is getting better every day and with growing scale and advancement in technology, the price issue could potentially be addressed. Furthermore, with QSRs pricing their plant-based options on par with the real meat-based options, this would help in generating trials and building traction for the category. Dairy alternatives, however, seem to be heading northwards and with more competitive pricing, should only see better traction.
The challenge the category faces is to improve taste, keep the labels clean, and keep the pricing attractive for consumers to adopt. A tall challenge indeed, but very hopeful with extraordinary talent working on these fronts and the billions of dollars flowing into this category.
(The author is principal consultant – food processing sector at Nexdigm)
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