The perception is not wrong. The entire plant-based food market will grow at a compound annual rate (which measures ROI) of 11.9% between 2020 and 2027 to reach $ 74.2 billion globally, Research and Markets projects. This value will increase due to the increase in people who are intolerant to animal protein and the vegan population. Statista projects that the vegetable protein segment alone – products that seek to resemble meat – will be worth $ 15.6 billion in 2026, 41.8% more compared to $ 11 billion this year.
The momentum has been greater as a result of the consumption changes derived from the pandemic, which has revealed an increase in the number of people who care more about their health and the environment, without this meaning that they do not consume meat.
Big food and beverage companies don’t want to be left without a piece of this millionaire pie, and they turned to this category. Nestlé is one of them. This year, the multinational announced that, as part of this plant bassed offer, which includes foods that originate from plants, it will add alternatives to eggs and shrimp to its international portfolio. In Mexico, it launched the Awesome Burger. “The trend in the consumption of plant-based products has increased in our country, where one in three Mexicans is avoiding or reducing their meat consumption,” the company said in the launch statement.
Danone also began exploring the alternative protein market in 2016, when it acquired WhiteWave Foods, which had the plant-based drink brand Silk, in its portfolio for $ 12.5 billion. And Unilever has Hellmann’s Vegan Mayonnaise and has a partnership with Burger King, supplying alternative ‘meat’ to classic Whoppers.
Mexico has become an attractive country for this market. Carolina Cruz, an independent analyst, states that, until last year, vegetarians were approximately 23% of the population, 11% are vegan and 17% declare themselves flexivegetarian. “The increase in the consumption of vegetable protein increases between 20 and 25% annually with a projection to 10 years. However, the barrier is the cost, which is about twice that of a balanced diet food, ”he says.
This trend is an area of opportunity in the industry for innovation in analog foods, but the greatest opportunity – and little explored – is in the ingredients that allow cooking recipes as if they were foods of animal origin, says Alejandro Hernández, service consultant technicians from the intellectual and industrial property firm ClarkeModet.
The offer has also reached restaurants. The alliance with Unilever has given Burger King a good response, Guillermo Hermosillo, Burger King’s Innovation Director, told Expansión in an interview in March. This hamburger reached the chain’s restaurants in December 2020. “The surprise was that this niche is not so niche. We have a very solid level of sales that is increasing week by week. We are going to continue innovating in plant based and alternatives ”, he assured.