Don’t have a cow, man
Who exactly is going to eat the new wave of plant-based foods? And why?
Plant-based ‘junk’ food hit the headlines in a big way in 2018, as companies like Beyond Burger introduced new ranges that don’t contain any meat, but are claimed to be close replicas of the ‘real thing’ in both taste and texture.
At Streetbees, we wanted to learn more — and in our previous conversations with our users, or bees, we found that 7 out of 10 Brits would try an Impossible Burger if they saw one on the menu.
2019 has brought even more advances — for example, in vegan ground meat — so we wondered who these companies are really trying to reach — and why do people want to eat junk food that’s based on plants, anyway? Here’s what our UK bees told us.
A new you
To start with, our bees told us about their diets, and while they take a variety of different approaches — from vegan to as much meat as possible, with everything in between! — the actual outcomes people wanted were pretty consistent: a diet that’s either healthy, varied, or that helps them lose weight:
“I’m just gaining weight so I try to do little steps — changes that don’t make me feel too uncomfortable so it’s not hard to follow the diet. I try to eat less sugar, less salt, not too much meat,” said a female bee, 27.
“It’s very easy to eat unhealthy food as it’s quick and tends to be cheaper, but I am worried about the impact it will have long-term on my health, such as developing diabetes or putting on a lot of weight,” said a female bee, 26.
Our bees then revealed what their favourite unhealthy foods were, and pizza, chocolate, burgers and bacon were most popular across the board. However, when we looked at why people ate these foods — split by what they are looking for in their respective diets — we unveiled completely different reasons by cluster:
So: it’s clear that people who have chosen a diet to lose weight are much more likely to ascribe emotional causes to why they eat junk food — from cravings or as a relaxant — than people who eat for generic health reasons, or for a varied diet.
So there’s an emotional factor in play here — but what does that mean about what people think about junk-food based on plants?
A huge missed steak
Our bees told us which foods they’d consider adding to their diet, and the results are clear — it’s healthy eaters that plant-based brands should be targeting, not people seeking to lose weight.
Why? Well, of course people trying to lose weight aren’t as likely to be interested in fatty foods — even if they don’t contain meat. However, this group doesn’t feel that plant-based foods can fill the emotional hole that meat-based junk food can.
In fact, 1 in 4 of those seeking to lose weight said plant-based junk food “won’t make me feel as good as regular junk food” — compared to 1 in 8 of those trying to eat healthily who said the same.
Furthermore, it’s also clear that people whose favourite food is identified especially with meat (such as burgers or fried chicken) are less likely to be interested in trying a vegan alternative to their favourite foods than those who prefer something else.
However, this doesn’t hold true for foods like pizza, or chocolate: their fans would be interested in trying vegan or plant-based alternatives of their favourites:
In other words, people who really like burgers aren’t the market for plant-based burger producers — which makes sense, as they’re most likely to pick fault. Instead, those who like other foods that aren’t solely identified with a meat (like pizza) are the future, not least as they likely already experiment with vegetable options anyway.
“I feel that meat completes a meal. Meat is filling and tasty and I prefer it to vegetarian-only meals,” said a 37-year-old male bee.
Tightening your belt
We also identified one other segment that should be on the radar for plant-based producers — bees whose main dietary goal isn’t actually dietary at all, but financial.
About 1 in 8 of our bees said that the reason they chose their diet was purely to save money. This group’s likes and tastes were in line with our other bees in terms of favourite foods, but they were much more interested in plant-based junk food than the norm:
Why? Well, meat is expensive — and this group clearly sees plant-based alternatives as a potential cost saver.
So who is the market for both the Impossible Burger and the many meat alternatives to come? Our take is that companies should be looking for people who have an interest in eating healthily (but not weight loss), perhaps who are on a budget (so price point will be key), and who isn’t already in love with burgers or other meat products.
Any producer that does so could well end up reaping the rewards of a meat-free future.
***
Streetbees can help your business understand markets in real time. Get in touch to find out more, or to access the findings in this report and play around with the data yourself.
Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter!
A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK, carried out in Feb/March 2019. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
