Tesco has seen its 'biggest-ever' Veganuary this year, with plant-based sales soaring despite a national lockdown.
British supermarket giant Tesco has reported its ‘biggest-ever’ Veganuary this year, with sales up by more than a third on last year.
Sales of vegan products as a whole rose by 35% this January, while individual items soared in popularity. For example. Wicked Kitchen’s Hot Burrito was up a whopping 750% on last Veganuary, while Plant Chef Vegan Burgers were up nearly 500%. Coming in third, Plant Chef Spicy Bean Burgers saw a commendable 300% increase.
Despite the country being in a national lockdown from January 3rd, Veganuary 2021 has been the biggest yet, ending on almost 600,000 sign-ups (compared to 400,000 last year). It seems that the ongoing pandemic has not deterred people from trying vegan, in fact, it may have spurred them on.
‘Truly ground-breaking and tempting’
Speaking to The Grocer, Tesco’s head of Plant-based food innovation Derek Sarno said: “The last year has seen some truly ground-breaking and tempting new plant-based foods come on the market which has encouraged more people to go vegan, whether full-time or as part of the Meat-Free Monday campaign.”
“At the beginning of this month, we launched our first plant-based bakery lines and the recent extensions made to our chilled, frozen and dairy vegan ranges have been the reason why we’re seeing such strong demand.”
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Huge Veganuary sales across the UK
And it isn’t just Tesco that has seen huge vegan sales for Veganuary. M&S sold one No Salt Beef Pretzel Roll every 30 seconds last month, while Pret’s new Meatless Meatball Hot Wrap became the first new product to be a top-five bestseller during its launch week in Pret history.
Moreover, Deliveroo saw an increase in demand for vegan food by 146%, with new customers purchasing vegan items up 163% from last year.
Could 2021 be the year of the vegan? We certainly hope so!
Are you getting hungry after reading about those popular Veganuary launches?
Here are some tasty vegan snacks for when you’re feeling peckish.
