Growth of Natural Food and Beverage Outpaces Overall Food and Beverage Market (Food Industry Executive)

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• According to a new report from data firm SPINS, sales growth in natural products is outpacing the total food and beverage retail market, reaching US$47bn for the year ending May 2019, a 5% increase yoy.

• In comparison, the report found that the total food and beverage retail market (a US$448.2 billion market) grew 1.7% yoy.

• While natural products made up 10.5% of the dollar volume, the report states they were responsible for 29.3% of dollar growth across the total marketplace, partially due to a more premium price point (see the following for a linked story: Whole Foods survey: Millennials still spend more for quality).

Analysis and Comments

• It’s worth noting that SPINS is a data and insights provider for the natural, organic and specialty products industry.

• That said, it’s interesting to see how consumers’ increased demand for healthy (as well as convenient) options and/or the increased popularity of flexitarian, vegan and vegetarian diets has pushed products onto shelves that used to only be available at natural/specialty stores.

• No surprise therefore that plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy top the list for natural products in their categories (and that millennials are among the top buying groups for organic products).

• But it seems a bit like not a single week goes by where another company isn’t launching or announcing a new plant-based brand/label/collection/etc.. Kroger launched a new private label collection called Simple Truth Plant Based, while Tyson Foods invested in plant-based shrimp maker New Wave Foods, also Hormel Foods is launching a non-GMO meat substitute under its new Happy Little Plants brand, and Kellogg's MorningStar Farms announced the launch of a new line of plant-based meat called Incogmeato (yes, that’s right).

• Knowing that those are just a few of the new announcements made over the past week, it does seem like the space is increasingly getting crowded, with most of the heavy hitters now on board the plant-based-(meat)-train.