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Plant-Based Market Overview
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Plant-Based Market Overview
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Plant-based foods are a booming business. Food manufacturers ranging from startups to leading CPG companies to the world’s largest meat companies are innovating rapidly in this category. These next-generation plant-based meat, egg, and dairy products are increasingly competitive with animal products on the key drivers of consumer choice: taste, price, and accessibility. As a result, a growing number of mainstream consumers are buying plant-based options. In fact, these products are a key driver of growth at grocery retailers nationwide, outpacing overall food growth by more than five times. New SPINS retail sales data released March 3, 2020, shows that grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 29% in the past two years to $5 billion.
We’ve summarized highlights from the data here—both for the market as a whole and for key plant-based categories—to help you understand the size and growth of the plant-based food industry.
Dollar sales of plant-based foods grew 11% in the past year and 29% over the past two years.
Plant-based milk is the most developed of all plant-based categories, followed by “other plant-based dairy” and then plant-based meat. The least developed category, although the fastest growing, is plant-based eggs.
Across key categories, dollar sales of plant-based foods are growing significantly, while dollar sales of conventional animal foods are declining or growing only modestly.
The plant-based meat category is worth $939 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based meat grew 18% in the past year and 38% over the past two years.
Over 208 million units of plant-based meat were sold in the past year.
Plant-based meat accounts for 2% of all dollar sales for retail packaged meat and approximately 1% of all dollar sales for total retail meat (including random-weight meat).*
Frozen plant-based meat accounts for 66% of all plant-based meat dollar sales, while refrigerated plant-based meat accounts for 33% and shelf-stable plant-based meat accounts for just 1%.
Dollar sales of refrigerated plant-based meat grew 63% over the past year, much more rapidly than dollar sales of frozen plant-based meat, which grew just 4%. Over the past two years, dollar sales of refrigerated plant-based meat grew 125%, while dollar sales of frozen plant-based meat grew 15%.
The top-selling forms of plant-based meat are burgers, followed by links (sausages and hot dogs), and then patties (chicken patties and breakfast patties).
The refrigerated versus frozen dynamic also holds among plant-based meat product types.
Plant-based seafood accounts for just $9.5 million (1%) of total plant-based meat dollar sales.
Of all U.S. households, 14% purchase plant-based meat, which equates to approximately 18 million households.
Dollar sales per buyer of plant-based meat increased $0.80 over the past year to $45.90 per buyer.
The plant-based milk category is worth $2 billion.
Over 620 million units of plant-based milk were sold in the past year.
Plant-based milk accounts for 14% of all dollar sales of retail milk.
Growth in plant-based milk is not being driven solely by increases in distribution. Rather, category dollar velocity is driving the increase, up over 7% from last year (as measured by dollar sales over total distribution points in MULO).
Plant-based milk is the most developed of all plant-based food categories and the category consistently shelved adjacent to its animal-based counterpart.
Refrigerated plant-based milk makes up 89.5% of all plant-based milk dollar sales, while shelf-stable plant-based milk now makes up just 10.5%.
Almond milk is the category leader with $1.3 billion in dollar sales. This is the majority of category dollar sales, which continue to increase.
Oat milk reached $84 million in sales and is the fastest-growing plant-based milk. Dollar sales of oat milk grew 686% in the past year and 1,946% over the past two years.
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Of all U.S. households, 41.3% purchase plant-based milk, which equates to almost 53 million households.
Of households purchasing refrigerated plant-based milk, 75.6% purchased refrigerated plant-based milk two or more times.
Dollar sales per buyer of refrigerated plant-based milk increased $0.50 over the past year to $36.50 per buyer.
Emerging plant-based dairy categories have experienced some of the greatest dollar sales growth.
Together, these other plant-based dairy categories are worth $1.4 billion.
Combined dollar sales of these other plant-based dairy categories grew 19% in the past year and 53% in the past two years.
The plant-based ice cream and frozen novelty category is worth $336 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based ice cream and frozen novelty grew 6% in the past year and 34% over the past two years.
The plant-based yogurt category is worth $283 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based yogurt grew 31% in the past year and 95% over the past two years.
The plant-based butter category is worth $198 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based butter grew 8% in the past year and 15% over the past two years.
The plant-based cheese category is worth $189 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based cheese grew 18% in the past year and 51% over the past two years.
The plant-based creamer category is worth $287 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based creamer grew 34% in the past year and 93% over the past two years.
The plant-based ready-to-drink beverages category is worth $122 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based ready-to-drink beverages grew 18% in the past year and 39% over the past two years.
The plant-based dairy spreads, dips, sour cream, and sauces category is worth $30 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based dairy spreads, dips, sour cream, and sauces grew 54% in the past year and 135% over the past two years.
The plant-based meal category, comprising frozen and shelf-stable meals, is worth $377 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based meals grew 8% in the past year and 25% over the past two years.
The category of refrigerated plant-based meals containing direct replacements of animal ingredients is underdeveloped and not included here. It is a clear market white space.
The plant-based eggs category is worth $10 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based eggs grew 192% in the past year and 228% over the past two years.
The plant-based condiments, dressing, and mayo category is worth $64 million.
Dollar sales of plant-based condiments, dressing, and declined by 11% in the past year due to decreases in distribution, but in total the category increased by 1% over the past two years.
The tofu and tempeh category is worth $128 million.
Dollar sales of tofu and tempeh grew 8% in the past year and 15% over the past two years.
The data summarized here represents U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products, including meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy, as well as meals that contain animal ingredient replacements. This data covers the grocery marketplace and was obtained over the 52-week and 104-week periods ending December 29, 2019, from the SPINSscan Natural, Specialty Gourmet, and Conventional Multi Outlet (powered by IRI) channels.
1,2 The Food Industry Association & IRI. (2020). Understanding the plant-based food consumer [Webinar].
*Note: SPINS does not report non-UPC meat counter sales. To account for this, the plant-based meat total retail share calculation uses the $95 billion total meat market size reported by Nielsen, as this number includes both retail packaged meat sales and non-UPC meat counter sales.
For more insight on how retailers are responding to plant-based market trends, download GFI's Good Food Retail Report.
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