With plant-based burger sales rising from 5 per cent to north of 15 per cent at its restaurants,Mr Crowe said the business was prepared to back the taste and quality of the entirely meat-free menu,which will feature products from alternative meat makers – Impossible Food,Fable,and Plantein.
“If I blindfolded you and gave you the[Impossible] burger,I bet $100 that you couldn’t tell the difference between this,and beef.”
The alternative meat movement is shaping up to become a $189 billion global industry by 2029,according to Barclays analysts. While it’s hard to pin down the exact number of vegans globally,some statistics put this figure to around 79 million,though a2019 study by the ABC found just 1 per cent of Australians identify as vegan.
Australian retail sales of plant-based meat rose by 46 per cent in the 2020 financial year,according to areport by Food Frontier. In the same period,the number of alternative meat products on supermarket shelves doubled.
While the demand is there,and growing,Mr Crowe believes the key differentiator will come down to taste and quality.
“Consumers will try and be served a deficient product,and then reject it on that basis,” he said. “That’s the hard part,and we think we’ve cracked that nut … But if you can do plant-based and taste,then there’s a longer-term win.”
Fast food players have long taken steps into the plant-based space. Hungry Jacks introduced its vegan Rebel Whopper in late 2019,which features v2food patties made from vegetables. Grill’d rival Betty’s Burgers,which already features two non-meat options on its menu,signalled it was introducingmore plant-based options in coming months.
The trend isn’t only found in fast food:celebrity fine dining chef Neil Perry’s latest venture,Margaret,includes v2food products on its menu.
Sustainability is the key driving force behind the rising interest in meat-free ‘meat’ and evolving consumer intentions to make more environmentally conscious choices. AUS study recently found that producing a single kilogram of beef creates 70 kilograms of emissions. Global meat production creates twice the amount of pollution than plant-based food production (57 per cent compared to 29 per cent).
About 80 per cent of the world’s agricultural land is dedicated to feeding livestock – not humans.
“The reason you see stories of theAmazon being half the size that it is now is because we’re growing more feedstock,” v2food founder and CEO Nick Hazell told this masthead.
“If you’re worried about your carbon footprint … switch to plant-based meat.”
Australia’s meat industry needn’t be worried,he added;the production of lamb and mutton is expected to rise by 8 per cent in 2021-22 and beef by nearly 4 per cent,according toDepartment of Agriculture figures.
But it’s not just the actual production of food that strains the environment;all the peripheries,such as fertiliser,petrol,packaging,and more,also add to emissions.
“You don’t think of the amount of input that goes into farming,” said Mr Hazell,who has done stints at Mars and PepsiCo.
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“You discover the fertiliser is bigger than the gas,which is bigger than logistics … and you were worried about the packaging.”
For Mr Crowe,the conversion of the two plant based-only stores is also a deliberate exercise of positioning its brand as more sustainable and ‘cleaner’ than the burger chain’s competitors.
“I couldn’t work at McDonald’s and feel proud of what they stand for,what that represents,” he said.