1) Taste & Price - would be the key for plant based meat. For a one off purchase, price
would be irrelevant. But for stickable repeat purchase price will be important.
2) Meat eaters will be the primary customers.
3) Easier adoption in South India & East India (includes interior parts of India)
4) Products which are shelf stable at ambient temperature preferred over
frozen/ chilled products. Frozen/ chilled products could do well in metros in the
form of finger foods.
5) Large scale sampling of Plant based meat products is going to be critical
6) Large scale Awareness campaign needs to be planned along with sampling.
7) Almost every big player in the Food and FMCG space has a feeling that this
space is going to blow up in the future. However the placement and sales of a few
large players in the space suggests that it’s a “testing the waters” kind of
approach.
The strong awareness campaign and aggressive sampling approach is missing.
This could be because the taste and price of the product has not reached the
perfect mix to pull the trigger. Think Nestle for Maggi, which carried out
Pan-India free sampling in schools. In the space of PMB, there could be a
case of localised pilots in one or two metros but that needs to be extremely
intensive.
8) To really understand the immense scope of the space, it’s important to allocate a
significant capital for the awareness and sampling campaign.
9) The global QSR chains have the reach and visibility to accelerate the adoption of
plant based meat. However it needs to be understood that the initial large consumer
group to be targeted should be meat eaters. For a lot of customers
in QSRs, taste is of the utmost priority. When these QSRs are piloting PBM
options, they need to be careful about the selection of cheese/mayo. If Vegan
options are good then they should
go for it. But initially, till vegan cheese/ mayo/butter options are not
great, it’s better to start with regular cheese/ mayo . As acceptance is built,
then completely vegan options can be introduced. Moreover, the
consumers cannot be expected to pay a premium over meat. Especially for repeat
purchase behaviour.
10) There is an immense opportunity for exports in the space. Indian food is loved
globally. Quite a few big players in RTE have 100% veg offerings. If plant based
meats are incorporated in the gravies then a completely new set of customers
can be added.
Plant based meat has a scope unlike any other recent food trends. The unlocking of this potential depends upon the right product and the right strategy. It remains to be seen which company emerges as the big winner.
