Another problem is that the plant-based meat companies simply grew too quickly too fast, said Chloe Sorvino, who leads food coverage at Forbes Magazine. She recently wrote a book called Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat.
“These businesses really never had enough of a strong foundation to begin with. And even early data showed that when consumers were purchasing these products at grocery stores, they often weren’t buying them again,” she said.
However, Sorvino said more recent versions of the products have improved a lot, so now the challenge is getting customers to try them again.
Four years ago, Matt Rafferty attracted a loyal following with Algorithm, his food truck that specializes in vegan fast food like cheesesteaks, milk shakes, and fries. Philadelphia Magazine put them on their best-of list in 2021, and the Philadelphia Inquirer named their vegan reuben sandwich as one of the city’s best sandwiches.
He opened a sit-down restaurant around a year ago, but recently closed because he said he could not attract enough people outside the vegan crowd.
“We’re in a very niche market and it’s very hard to promote to people that are not vegan and looking for it.”
Rafferty will go back to running the food truck.
But across state lines in New Jersey, Brennah Lambert continues to attract a vegan and meat-eating crowd at her restaurant Lesbiveggies. Her restaurant is known for their meatballs, made with Beyond Meat, and tacos that are made with slowly stewed jackfruit instead of pork. She said the restaurant is not just a vegan restaurant, but a place that vegans can take their meat eating friends to and everyone can have a good time.
“They can have a Beyond meatball and it doesn’t have to 100% resemble a meatball, because it’s not. But … it’s gonna taste good and you’re not gonna feel like you’re eating like lentils with flour.”
She said the restaurant is packed on the weekends and she’s thinking about buying the property next door to expand.
Honeysuckle Provisions in West Philadelphia sells both meat and plant-based meat, and in one instance, the plant-based meat is outselling the meat product, according to chef and co-owner Cybille St. Aude-Tate. Among other things, the restaurant is known for their black eyed-pea scrapple. St. Aude-Tate said they sell more black eyed-pea scrapple than pork sausage, and recalled one customer who walked in to order a pork breakfast sandwich.
“That was a moment for me to kind of test the waters and see if she would try something different,” said St. Aude-Tate. “I was able to have a conversation and explain a little bit more about the scrapple and she was super interested in it. And she ordered it and she sat there and ate it in front of me, and now she comes back and she only gets the scrapple.”
Plant-based meat is still at the start of its story, said Emma Ignaszewski, associate director of industry intelligence at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit think tank focused on alternatives to animal protein, including plant-based meat. She pointed out that consumers who are growing up right now will make different choices than the people who came before them.
“We’re seeing younger Generations, like Gen Z and Millennials, come into their purchasing power, and these generations are … more likely to report, caring about or making consumer decisions based on sustainability issues.”
For instance, Beyond Meat continues to be a big hit in Europe and some big U.S. companies continue to bet on the change. In March, Oscar Meyer announced they will sell vegan hot dogs.
