Why plant-based menu items don’t need to reinvent the wheel

It’s time for restaurants to look more critically at their plant-based menus, specifically when it comes to meat-alternatives. You only need to visit your local high street chains to see that while some serve a decent array of vegetarian and vegan options, most fall short in their meat-alt offering, where often you’ll find absolutely nothing. Meat-alternatives play an important role in plant-based diets by appealing to the flexitarian. ‘Flexitarianism’ is not a trend. There is an increasing number of flexitarians globally and it is the fastest growing diet in the UK, with 16% of British consumers now identifying as Flexitarian (YouGov, July 2022). These people wish to moderate their meat consumption for a variety of reasons, whether for environmental concerns, with 30% choosing plant-based options to reduce their carbon foot-print, or health reasons, which account for 61%. Whilst we have seen a great expansion of plant-based options on menus over the past few years, there is scope to optimise the offering. We believe that there are two core considerations that operators should consider when building a plant-based range. These are looking to mimic the most popular meat dishes on menus and to have a real focus on delivering on quality and taste. Traditionally, choice for vegetarians and vegans is limited to vegetable-led options: reiterations of Portobello mushroom, vegetable medleys and a sea of silken tofu, seitan and tempeh. However, when it comes to attracting flexitarian consumers, meat-alternatives hold much higher appeal as consumers feel they don’t need to compromise on taste and texture to make a more sustainable choice. Growth in plant-based options over the past three years is nearly double that of meat, however penetration into the category remains broadly flat, with growth being driven though frequency and volume per trip. To attract new consumers into the category, it’s critical that operators focus on product quality and taste. The key barrier to entry in the category is negative taste perception, driven by people having poor historic experiences of meat-alternatives. Thanks must go to those legacy brands, like Quorn and Linda McCartney, who have played a massive part in birthing and developing the plant-based category, and for kickstarting a consumer movement to put more consideration into the food they eat. However, these brands and products often don’t offer the hyper-realism that younger, flexitarian consumers are looking for. Instead, they appeal much more to the core vegan and vegetarian, whereas the likes of Beyond, Moving Mountains and THIS appeal to the meat reducers. Every brand has a role to play and is instrumental to the category. As well as delivering on quality and taste, it’s critical to have the right offerings on the menu to attract those flexitarian consumers. A YouGov survey from 2022 stated that 82% of flexitarians were open to making plant-based choices in restaurant chains, but sadly only 47% think there’s a good range of meat-alternatives out there. To shift this perception, it’s critical that venues offer their most popular and iconic meat dishes in a plant-based reinvention. Flexitarian consumers don’t want to have to compromise on choice to select a plant-based option, so offering high-quality alternatives to popular dishes is typically the most successful formula for success. Examples such as McDonald’s Double McPlant, Wagamama’s Vegatsu and Greggs Sausage Roll have demonstrated this and have paved the way for successful meat-alternative launches. They don’t reinvent the wheel, nor do they create a new sub-group of the product market. Instead, they follow a simple principle of replicating the meat favourite. A lot of these switches can be made at the click of a drop-down menu or an additional line of copy. Classic Bolognese, English Breakfast or Meatball Marinara sandwich? Why not offer a meat-alternative switch?