Plant Based Food Association: Retail Sales Up 11% In 2019 To $5B

Data from the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute said in a Tuesday press release it found U.S. retail sales of plant-based food rose 11.4% in 2019 to $5 billion.

What Happened

Data compiled from the two entities found that plant-based food retail sales outpaced the broader U.S. retail food category where sales grew just 2.2% in 2019 but unit sales were flat. Some of the outperforming categories in the plant-based space include plant-based milk, meat, dairy alternatives, and plant-based meals.

By segment, total plant-based meat category saw sales rise 18% in the past year to $939 million and refrigerated plant-based meat sales grew 63%, according to the press release. One of the more visible companies in the space, Beyond Meat Inc BYND, saw its full-year 2019 net revenue soar 239% to $297.9 million.

Compared to rivals like Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat has much better exposure to consumers in grocery stores.

Conventional meat sales were up just 3% in 2019, according to the findings. Plant-based meat as a market share of total retail packaged meat sales now stands at 2%.

Why It's Important

PBFA Senior Director of Retail Partnerships Julie Emmett attributed the plant-based category's growth to "innovation in categories" and retailers' willingness to expand their shelf space to address the "rapidly expanding" consumer demand.

"Plant-based foods remain a growth engine, up 29 percent over the last two years," Emmett also said.

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Photo by Beyond Meat on Unsplash