Items with a “plant-based” label on restaurant menus has increased by 2,800% in less than five years, according to a new report conducted by the research firm Dataessential.
The report found that “plant-based” is the top growing trend in restaurant menus, seeing a massive increase since 2018. To determine this, Dataessential used a complex algorithm.
“Building an automated and intelligent approach was critical to decoding the complex universe of plant-based trends,” says Datassential’s Chief Data Scientist Alex Langowski. “With the rapid evolution of plant-based items, our customers need insight into current trends as well as the ability to look back into historical data to fully understand the trend.”
The report also found that 29% of the population limits consumption of meat in some way, 28% of consumers prefer plant-based proteins over animal-based proteins, and 55% of consumers view climate change as an important issue.
In addition, 57% of consumers are trying to increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables, 32% are aiming to increase their consumption of plant-based meat substitutes, and 24% are trying to consume more non-dairy substitutes.
The report found that although just 7% of U.S. consumers consider themselves vegetarian or vegan, 22% refer to themselves as flexitarian meaning they do eat meat and dairy, but are focused on eating less of both. This number jumps to 36% among Gen Z consumers.
More information on this report can be found by clicking here, though we do warn that it’s behind a paywall.
