“Plant-based is growing in most markets,” says the business’ senior vice president and general manager for EMEA, Edwin Bark. “What we’ve seen in the past two-and-a-half years is this inflection of the plant-based meat market, but it’s nothing more than natural in the long-term development of a category like this.”
Alt meat was following a “simple” S-shaped curve as any emerging and growing market would, Bark says, ahead of his speaking debut at FoodNavigator’s leading online Protein Vision event on 3 December.
German-speaking markets and the Netherlands were seeing high single digit rebounding growth, he says, adding it was now time to refocus efforts to further develop the category.
The market grew 5.5% to €5.4bn across six European countries last year, new Good Food Institute data shows this month, with Germany, France and Spain showing the most growth. Italy remained flat, while the Netherlands and UK were in decline.
“The downturn created a natural shakeout in the sector, with brands disappearing because they didn’t deliver on the promises they made – so there’s less on offer [from competitors] and more reason to focus on innovation,” he explains.
What chefs want from alt meats
Bark speaks from experience, having been managing director for Nestlé's European plant-based food division, among other senior FMCG leadership roles, before he took the helm at Redefine Meat.
Delivering innovation must utilise multiple approaches that tap into the talents and experience of different sectors. Redefine Meat, for example, recently hosted its first Dutch chef panel at its new visitor centre in Best, the Netherlands.
A series of high-profile chefs joined the business to input on the next iterations of alt meat from the business, while also providing insight into how foodservice was, and would in the future be, using the products.
“Chefs are looking for high-quality plant-based meats, but with the same versatility as [animal-derived] meat,” says Bark.
“One of things we do is have a strong focus on continuous improvement and, like a tech company, we bring out improvements [to our products] every six to nine months. Today’s portfolio is six years of product development, so imagine where we can be in six years from now.”
Soon, however, Redefine Meat will deliver more alternatives to meat cuts, as it did with the beef flank steak alternative. The business would continue to drive its attentions in this area, citing “a lot already on offer” in the mince-based segment.
Investment in new product development will be used to drive further penetration of the company’s products, which “is built into the DNA of Redefine Meat”, driving take-up among 10% of non-users already.
Where to position alternative meats in retail
Foodservice would continue to be the business’ launch arena, where it builds its proof points and demonstrates product versatility, says Bark.
“We want to be where meat is being consumed and we want to offer this alternative. That means in butchers, supermarkets, wholesalers, foodservice – we will have our portfolio there and will ultimately be part of the protein offering.”
Positioning on shelves was also evolving, says Bark, who adds Redefine is working with retailers to test where it is best to stock alternative meat products – solo, with meat proteins, next to meat proteins or dual-sited.
“We’re going to list in a Dutch retailer that will integrate Redefine Meat by phasing it in above the meat up to the top shelf, where it will be all plant-based options,” he explains, though refuses to reveal which chain, other than saying it’s “one of the leading Dutch retailers”.
“The customer will see both plant-based and animal-based proteins in one area, which follows positive tests in a smaller group of stores that will now be rolling our countrywide."
