Between these poles, in the grey area where consumers’ best intentions meet their love of meat and dairy, lies an emerging opportunity: “hybrid” products.
“A ‘hybrid’ or ‘blended’ strategy gives flexitarian consumers permission to indulge in favourite foods like meat, dairy and bakery – they can eat them and feel no guilt,” says Julian Mellentin, director of consultancy New Nutrition Business and author of a newly-published strategy briefing on the hybrid opportunity. “And while it’s currently a niche opportunity, it’s already earning companies significant price premiums of up to 140% over regular non-hybrid products.”
It’s early days and a white-space opportunity, but emerging steadily. New Nutrition Business believes that within five years, hybrid products will have a 3%-5% market share in many categories.
From meatballs with mushroom to bread with beetroot, hybrid products deliver traditional foods along with a significant portion – at least 20% – of plant-based ingredients. Many successful products, such as Fazer’s vegetable breads, go up to 30% and more.
The terms ‘blended and ‘hybrid’ are starting to be more widely used by product developers and strategists, and plants are increasingly showing up as a prominent ingredient in categories where you wouldn’t traditionally expect to find them. The new emerging blends are:
- Plants + good carbs
- Plants + meat
- Plants + dairy
These blends can be found in many categories including snacking, bread, cakes, burgers, dairy drinks, ice-cream, breakfast cereal and many others.
“A surge of creative product development means that within a few years, a convenient vegetable content in bread and bakery, chips and snacks and many other categories will be everyday and unremarkable,” says Mellentin.
Companies already innovating in this area include both start-ups and established businesses such as Perdue, Hormel, Applegate Farms and Finnish bakery giant Fazer. www.new-nutrition.com
