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Research Outline

Prepared for Tom M. | Delivered April 16, 2020

Plant-Based Foods

Goals

To understand the trends surrounding consumer preference of plant-based products by looking at plant-based products that may be associated with non-dairy dressings as well as details on what the trend is and factors driving the trend.

Early Findings

Plant-Based Natural Sweetener

Consumers have been seeking a healthier and more natural way to still have the accustomed sweetness in their diet. Here are the plant-based natural sweeteners that are considered to be the best and most popular:
  • Stevia - Stevia is a small shrub that has been natively grown in Paraguay where it has been used as a sweetener for centuries. Some mid-calorie sodas, as well as Cargill's Tuvia, are examples of existing products in the market that use stevia as a sweetener. The artificial sweetener industry considers "Stevia as the most hopeful natural sweetener."
  • Monk fruit - This has been used in "Cumberland Packaging’s Monk Fruit in the Raw sweetener." This, however, is "more expensive to produce than stevia."

Plant-Based Mustard

  • Daiya Foods seem to be the only available store that sells plant-based mustard. Daiya Foods products are free of common allergens such as dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

Plant-Based Milk

  • Of all the plant-based categories, "plant-based milk is the most developed with total dollar sales of $1.86 billion in April 2019."
  • Oatly was able to partner with Starbucks "under which it will add its vegan oat milk to the latter’s 1,300 locations across the Midwest."