Artesian producers and private label brands hold a significant market share across Europe and the scenario is quite the same in the UK. Despite the presence of large food processing companies such as Premier Foods, Unilever, Quorn Foods, Beyond Meat and Meatless Farm Co. in the plant-based foods market, private label brands have shown significant growth in recent years.
Private label products are gaining access to the UK plant-based protein market. This is primarily due to the presence of the world’s leading retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons in the country’s plant-based protein market. Moreover, rising preference towards plant-based foods is expanding the growth opportunity for private label brands. Therefore, leading retailers are pushing private label brands against branded products to capitalize on the trend and gain their profit margin. Hence, the leading retailers have periodically launched their flagship products in the plant-protein range to attract more consumers.
Sainsbury’s, for instance, expanded its Plant Pioneers range by launching 20 new vegan products, January 2021. Some of its product launches include No Pork Belly Bao Buns, No Egg Bites, No Prawn Toast and No Steak Pies. Sainsbury’s is capitalizing on veganism to offer plant-based alternatives for flexitarians and vegans.
Similarly, Tesco’s Wicked Kitchen has a large market in the UK. Since its launch in 2018, Tesco sold more than 10 million units of plant-based foods under the Wicked Kitchen brand name. Recently, in January 2021, Tesco launched Jazzy Jam Doughnut which is entirely vegan, and earlier launched plant-based sausage roll and turkey crown, further expanding its plant-based food options. In 2020, demand for chilled plant-based foods grew by over 50% at Tesco, owing to plant based food launches.
Also, Asda launched over a hundred new vegan products across 359 stores, September 2020. Going forward, private label product launches are expected to increase over the coming quarters. The growth in product launches is further expected to increase competition in the UK plant protein market.
