Nils-Gerrit Wunsch
Research expert covering foods trends in North America, Europe, and the global food system
Meat substitutes market in the U.S. - Statistics and Facts
The United States market for plant-based meat substitutes has come a long way in the past two decades. The development of food items that imitate meat to a near perfect degree have done wonders for the perception and adoption of meat substitute products. However, not all is rosy for these products, as inflation has tightened consumer budgets significantly and U.S. meat substitutes are still pricier than regular meat. The gap, despite a lot of progress, has yet to close. Beef substitutes look to be the first category that might achieve price parity at least when it comes to the foodservice segment.
Meat substitutes and the plant-based market
Within the United States, the entire plant-based foods market is worth eight billion U.S. dollars. When breaking down the market by category, meat substitutes are the second most valuable plant-based food product category. Only the sales of milk alternatives are higher, valued at approximately 2.8 billion U.S. dollars. That is double the market value of plant-based meat. While plant-based products have become more established, over half of U.S. consumers have never tried plant-based meat. And a quarter have set their mind on never consuming it.Meat substitutes in the foodservice segment
The lion’s share of the meat substitutes market in the United States is made up of sales in the retail segment. Foodservice sales make up about a third of the market. While e-commerce, it is the smallest sales channel for meat substitutes in the U.S. and accounts for less than 60 million U.S. dollars. In foodservice, meat substitutes most commonly get served in restaurants. Quick service restaurants account for close to 40 and full-service restaurants for close to 20 percent of the market segment. Educational facilities constitute another 16 percent, and the remaining part of the market is made up of smaller service facilities. As for what gets served, beef imitating substitutes and tofu dominate other meat substitute product categories and together account for close to two thirds of product volume.
