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Plant-based Foods: Will They Stay or Will They Go?


Photo by Pontus Ohlsson on Unsplash

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The rapid growth of plant-based foods at retail and on restaurant menus has many in the food and foodservice industries questioning if the interest in plant-based food is a passing fad or a long-term trend.  A new study by The NPD Group addresses this question and finds that  the answer depends on the consumer and their reasons for consuming plant-based foods in the first place.

Millennials, born 1981-1996, are the top consumers of plant-based meat alternatives, finds the NPD study, The Future of Plant-based Snapshot. This generational group has adopted plant-based meat alternatives as a way to indulge sensibly while addressing their long-term health goals and animal treatment concerns. Gen Xers, born 1965-1980, are also a core consumer group of plant-based meat alternatives, and because many in this group are parents of Gen Zs, born 1997 to present, they raised their Gen Z children on plant-based beverages and foods. Boomers are decelerating their consumption of plant-based meat alternatives but are the top consumers of plant-based dairy alternatives.

Since the core consumer groups for plant-based dairy and meat alternatives are younger, NPD forecasts that plant-based foods, to varying degrees, do have staying power. NPD’s study also finds that plant-based food consumption is not about rejecting traditional protein sources as about 90 percent of plant-based users are neither vegetarian nor vegan, noting that consumers want options.

