Waitrose has seen purchases of its plant-based food and drink products skyrocket as consumers make changes to their purchasing habits amid lockdown
The number of vegans living in the UK has grown from 140,000 in 2014 to 600,000 in 2019. This rapid growth has caused a huge rise in demand for vegan products and boosted sales in the sector by 40% to £816m in 2019 with one in four new food products launched in the UK being vegan.
Supermarkets have seen sales of plant-based products booming in recent months with consumers making changes to their purchasing and eating habits amid lockdown.
According to The Telegraph, Waitrose has seen purchases of its plant-based food and drink products skyrocket by 30 percent year-on-year, with vegan mince and balls up 150 percent and oat milk sales up by 113 percent.
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According to the retailer, online searches for ‘oat milk’ are up 210% and the search term ‘barista oat milk’ is up a staggering 1,517% on Waitrose.com vs last year.
Waitrose also reports that sales of barista-style alternative milks which are designed especially to be used in coffees are up 64%.
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Many people often cite bacon as one of the barriers to them ditching meat and adopting a plant-based diet, but excitingly, searches for vegan bacon have surged by a whopping 759% percent at Waitrose.
The retailer launched its own-brand vegan bacon in 2019 after noticing an increase in searches on its website for a vegan alternative.
“In recent months we’ve seen that customers have become more adventurous thanks to spending more time at home. Vegan ingredients have been leading the way in the last few months,” the supermarket’s vegan buyer, Charlotte McCarthy, told The Telegraph.
