Vegan Practically

Whenever a new plant-based product shows up on the shelves or in the freezer of a local supermarket, my vegan community group lights up with posts letting us all know. It is truly exciting to many of us to have a new product to try in the ever-expanding line-up for plant-based options being developed for wide distribution. But it’s truly a niche market, and the industry has stalled.

To stay successful and grow, plant-based products need to be marketed to a wider audience. An article in The Conversation by business scholars Andrew Godley and Mariana Malerich came my way recently (thanks, Sam!) that discusses just this issue: “Many plant-based brands are struggling — they should follow the marketing examples of big tech.”

There may be lots of things we don’t like about big tech, but one thing we can’t deny is that they’re great at marketing. Godley and Malerich suggest that from a product-marketing perspective we think of plant-based meat alternative, like Beyond Burgers, Impossible breakfast links, and Gardein f*sh as new technologies rather than as food.

“Conventional” products follow an “S-curve” trajectory, “where sales grow slowly among the early adopters at first, before increasing more quickly as the product is picked up by later-adopting consumers. But then sales growth begins to slow down again.” But tech innovations are different. Yes there is a pause, but rapid growth follows: “sales growth pauses for a while after early adopters have rushed to the shops, and sometimes even declines. It then picks up again as other consumers catch up, and returns to a normal, rapid growth.”

Godley and Malerich distinguish between early adopters, who appreciate what an innovative technology has to offer right away, and the rest of us, who may not quite understand what it is and why we need it. Think of Steve Jobs’ famous line: ““A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” And did the smart phone industry ever show us. It is hard to believe that the first iPhone launched less than 20 years ago, in January 2007.

The early adopters (in the case of alternative meats, the vegan and vegetarian communities) account for the initial success. But others might not even understand the need or believe there is a need. As the authors point out: “with alternative meats, the gap between early adopters and majority market consumers is not just about different levels of understanding. It is also about different beliefs about what it is right to eat.”

Vegans and vegetarians think differently about food than omnivores, who make up the vast majority of eaters. Any vegan can attest to this–many restaurant menus have no vegan options at all, and asking to adapt something can cause confusion or even hostility, leading down a path of questions such as “is it an allergy or just a preference?”

The business challenge is obvious. If omnivores make up the majority of eaters, then these types of products will only experience the rapid growth of a new technology when those omnivores shift their believes about what it is right to eat. Or at least what it is right to eat every day.

If a typical eater is perusing a menu that has regular burgers and Beyond burgers on it, they may well wonder why they should consider the Beyond burger. Or, if they are a little bit adventurous, they might try it on a lark and if perchance they like it, they might order it again some time. But they are still approaching each meal simply from the perspective of “what do I feel like eating right now?”

The early-adopters are convinced. How do businesses producing plant-based meat alternatives get their offerings to resonate with the everyone else? Clearly, they need to create a sense of need. The UK-based Plantfutures Collective is one organization working towards this goal, in part by promoting Meatless Mondays to a wider audience and also focusing on the sustainability narrative. As we have seen in recent years, the sustainability narrative about why plant-based alternatives are needed has gained traction over animal rights/animal suffering arguments.

I’ve talked before about how Meatless Monday is a great start but doesn’t go far enough. In the context of this larger issue about creating a wider audience for plant-based meat alternatives, I think there is more reason to encourage people to consider it. If a household is meal-planning for one day a week of plant-based eating, then they will turn to alternative ingredients for foods they typically enjoy. If that means making their shepherd’s pie with Beyond meat instead of regular ground beef, great. If millions of households are doing similar, excellent.

Veganuary is another great opportunity to expand the market for these sorts of products. I would also say that pointing out the health benefits of plant-based eating (though in general you don’t want to make a whole diet of plant-based meat alternative products), is an important part of the project. And of course, the ethical arguments about animal suffering, animal exploitation, the environmental disaster that is factory farming, and our responsibilities as citizens of the earth in the midst of what sometimes feels like an apocalyptic climate crisis.

Market expansion is essential, so it’s absolutely necessary to draw in the broader audience and not just early-adopters. As more and more people start to develop a new perspective about what it is right to eat, these products will contribute to fulfilling that newly-discovered need.