Three plant-based meat companies shared their insights on building credibility, adapting products for local markets, and shifting consumer perceptions.
Driving growth in the alternative protein market comes with its own set of complex dynamics.
Speaking at the New Food Conference, hosted by non-profit ProVeg, panelists from three prominent plant-based meat companies brought their perspectives on the role of consumer education, transparency, technology, and overcoming the perception of ultra-processing, in accelerating growth and increasing acceptance of alternative proteins: Edwin Bark, senior vice president at Redefine Meat; Diego Pacheco, sales director at Novameat; and Randi Wahlsten, CEO and co-founder of Matr Foods. The session was moderated by Fabio Ziemssen, partner at Zintinus, a Venture Capital Fund focused on the foodtech sector.
Consumer scepticism about plant-based foods is a major barrier to the widespread adoption of plant-based products. Transparency and consumer education may help overcome this.
Bark emphasised the double standard in consumer scrutiny between plant-based and animal-based products. He explained that consumers often ask many questions about the origin of plant-based products yet fail to ask the same questions about animal products.
"There's a strange phenomenon that people want to know about plant-based brands. What's in it? How is it made? Where does it come from? If ever they would ask those questions about their animal meat, there would be progress," he said, pointing to the power of the meat industry's lobbying efforts. Bark added that in addition to this, there is also a bad practice within the meat industry to transport animals from one continent to another in order to stamp the animal product with a desirable origin label.
For plant-based to become more widely adopted across nations, Bark said the influence of the meat industry needs to be challenged. Alongside this, there needs to be increased consumer education to shift misperceptions about plant-based, he said.
Wahlsten noted that certain production terms can be confusing for consumers. "I think fermentation is still a very hard-to-understand category for most consumers," she said.
Wahlsten said that while chefs are often excited by terms like fermentation, everyday consumers may find it puzzling. To bridge this gap, Matr Foods, instead of fermentation, focuses its messaging on a more straightforward aspect of its product, a clean label. "We're not necessarily trying to make fermentation a big part of the story, because I think at the end of the day, that's not what's important,” she said, adding that clean label is a concept consumers understand.
Given that technology drives a large amount of innovation in the plant-based space, how much information about technology's role in creating plant-based products should be communicated to consumers, and how should this be balanced with consumers’ desire for natural, healthy food?
Processing technology is a difficult topic, Ziemssen explained, one that he believes needs a better narrative.
Bark explained that while his company, Redefine Meat, is often recognised for its advanced technology, it does not focus on the technology in its marketing: "We don't sell technology. We sell the most delicious plant-based meat, which happens to be made of perfectly natural plant-based ingredients."
Bark mentioned that while Redefine Meat uses different types of processing technology such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing, the people most interested in these aspects are investors and scientists, not the end consumer. More important for the consumer is communicating the product's quality and taste, over the technology used to create it.
Pacheco agreed with Bark, emphasising that technology is a tool used in development, rather than the focal point of the product. "[In] the end, technology itself doesn't matter. It's a way of getting an end result," he stated. “What’s important is what you, at the end of the day, offer to the consumer, to the retailer, to the chef,” adding that how the product is processed comes secondary to its taste and quality.
According to Bark, food service plays an important role in building consumer credibility and trust in plant-based brands as it acts as a critical entry point for new markets. "A lot of people will blame the plant-based category for not delivering good products if they cook it wrong at home," he said. Allowing consumers to experience plant-based products prepared by professional chefs helps to build trust: "If they have had multiple [positive] experiences out of home, at least the doubt about the product quality will fade away."
Wahlsten agreed with Bark, adding that chefs can influence consumer perceptions of plant-based foods. "The collaboration with chefs, we [Matr Foods] see as a very big part of our strategy", as it can help improve consumer confidence and entry into the retail space, she said.
How important is localisation to brand and communication strategies?
For Wahlsteen, it is crucial, especially given the diversity of markets across Europe. "We will definitely set up a German Instagram account and [do] the same for a couple of other markets that we're looking at," she said, adding that a global approach does not work when the aim is to reach a broad and diverse audience. "If you just come up with a global, English-speaking approach, then you'll only reach a certain segment," she noted.
Wahlsteen emphasised the importance of being relevant to the conversations which are taking place in any given local culinary scene. "You need to know ‘what are the cool places in Berlin [that] you want to be in?’, ‘what are the cool places in Munich?’, and so on."
Bark, meanwhile, said that localisation transcends language – it is about tailoring content and recipes to fit local tastes. He outlined the importance of adapting recipe inspiration to reflect regional culinary preferences or even providing consumers with a large toolbox full of different local recipes as inspiration.
According to Bark, Redefine Meats studies the top 10 to 20 dishes in each market, before adding additional elements to make them more attractive, an approach that has led to conversion rates as high as 60 to 70% in some markets.
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