A group of food manufacturers, including Unilever and Danone, have joined forces with Carrefour in an effort to boost sales of plant-based products. Carrefour, the French retailer, aims to achieve €500m ($535.5m) in sales of plant-based protein products by a designated date in Europe, which would represent a 65% increase from 2022.
The “coalition” also includes Bel, Andros, Bonduelle, Nutrition & Santé, and Savencia. Carrefour plans to implement a series of joint actions to achieve their goals. A steering committee will be established, comprising representatives from the eight founding partners, to monitor progress, measure results, and define new initiatives.
The objectives of this partnership involve experimenting with innovative tastes and flavors, organizing promotional campaigns, offering customer recipes, and sharing best practices for the development of plant-based alternatives. The manufacturers have already collaborated with Carrefour during a 2022 plant-based food promotional campaign and an international competition for plant-based start-ups organized by Carrefour in June 2021.
Carrefour recognizes the increasing consumer demand for vegetable proteins and aims to offer an alternative product range that addresses the challenges of climate change and inflation. France, ranking as the fifth largest plant-based food retail market in Europe, has witnessed continued growth in sales, with a 5% increase to €425.7m from 2020 to 2022, according to The Good Food Institute Europe.
Alexandre Bompard, the chairman and CEO of Carrefour, emphasized the collective responsibility of the food industry to meet these challenges and hopes that more groups will join the coalition. However, potential obstacles may arise, such as the French government’s reconsideration of a plan to prohibit the use of animal-derived names for plant-based foods.
Transitioning to a business tone, the French Ministry of Agriculture initially aimed to implement a labeling law in 2022, banning animal-related designations for products featuring vegetable protein alternatives. However, the decree was suspended following its proposal in 2020. In addition, some plant-based food manufacturers in other markets have encountered declining sales, with several companies, including the UK’s Plant & Bean, filing for administration within a challenging operating environment.
