Plant-based meat products have come a long way in taste, quality and affordability over the last decade – but in tandem, they now must do substantially more to stand out. As retail fixtures shrink, yet the segment remains crowded, The Plant Base examines what it really means for today’s brands to be a cut above the competition.

Plant-based meat and seafood products have seen mixed performance over the past year, with signs of growth emerging after a challenging period for both alt-meat and the wider plant-based food category.

“Demand for plant-based meat and seafood alternatives is becoming increasingly nuanced by region,” said Jacquelyn Rodenkirch-Schuh, global senior director of product marketing, Specialty Ingredients at ADM.

According to Circana data recently analysed by the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe, meat alternatives was the fastest-growing plant-based category in France in 2025, with sales volume rising by 16.8% as prices fell.

Rodenkirch-Schuh commented: “Point of sale [Circana] data for the first half of 2026 shows strong performance for meat and seafood alternatives in Germany and France compared to the first half of 2025”.

However, the UK and Spain saw declines. Last year, prices rose in the UK and alt-meat in retail contracted significantly, excluding discounter stores, highlighting how cost barriers could be impacting sales.

Sales volume also fell by 7% in Spain as prices increased, with plant-based meat alternatives in the country costing more than double the price of their traditional counterparts.

Meanwhile, data from Spins says retail sales for plant-based meat and seafood in the US are still declining 8% year-over-year – though Angela Flatland, senior sales director and plant based content lead, said this is a result of retailers pulling back the space dedicated to plant-based items.

“The pockets of growth in plant-based [in the US market] are coming from emerging brands that are innovating to meet consumer needs with plant-forward items, mycelium-centric items and steak alternatives,” she told The Plant Base.

ADM’s Global Protein Consumer Discovery report for 2025 found that 71% of ‘plant-forward’ consumers – defined as flexitarians, vegetarians or vegans – have tried a plant-based meat alternative, with Brazil leading at 85%, followed by the UK and US at 75%.

“Seafood alternatives see lower overall trial, but there are notable markets, including South Korea at 71%, Brazil at 70% and the US at 61%,” added Rodenkirch-Schuh.

A maturing market

From a financial perspective, Tom Swiers, managing director and food and drink sector lead at financial advisory firm Interpath, said the category is “stabilising, but at a materially lower level of growth expectation than during the 2020/21 hype cycle”.

“The initial correction was clearly demand-led: the category recruited a lot of trial consumers during the hype phase, but repeat purchase did not always follow where products failed to deliver on taste, texture, price or perceived health credentials,” he explained.

“More recently, however, the issue has been as much about the economics of the business model as consumer demand. Sub-scale manufacturing is difficult in any food category, but it is particularly challenging in plant-based meat where ingredient costs, technical complexity, chilled supply chains, promotional support and range rationalisation can all put pressure on contribution margins.”

Schouten Europe’s Mark van Noorloos, head of marketing, also points to the market becoming more mature rather than declining.

“Growth is no longer automatic and there are clear differences between countries,” he said. “Some European markets continue to grow, while others are experiencing pressure, particularly in more established plant-based meat categories.”

Moving mainstream

While ADM’s research highlights how the majority of ‘plant-forward’ consumers have tried meat alternatives, the sector’s most prominent challenge is now to reach those consumers who don’t yet fall within this ‘plant-forward’ group.

Schouten’s van Noorloos commented: “The biggest challenge is convincing mainstream consumers to buy plant-based products repeatedly. Trial alone is not enough. A product needs to taste good, be competitively priced and fit naturally into people’s everyday meals.”

In addition to clear product differentiation and evidence of repeat purchase, successful plant-based meat brands need “disciplined range architecture, a defensible gross margin and a manufacturing model that can scale without continually absorbing cash,” said Interpath’s Swiers.

He noted that the investment case has moved from growth to profitability – and the route to growth should be funded by the business model rather than repeated by external capital raises.

“In practical terms, that often means more use of co-manufacturing, tighter SKU discipline, lower fixed overheads and far greater focus on unit economics by product, customer and channel,” Swiers said. “The ‘growth at all costs’ mindset has largely gone; investors now want to see financial sustainability much earlier in the journey.”

The price of success

Achieving profitability is particularly difficult, in today’s market, for challenger brands and smaller start-ups. Retailers’ own-label offerings have significantly improved in quality – data from McKinsey notes that these products now often offer the same quality as name-brand items, at prices around 30% lower.

Meanwhile, larger F&B manufacturers benefit from the scale and resource to compete at lower price points. A broader pattern of consolidation across the industry has seen smaller brands increasingly being acquired by multinational food powerhouses.

“On one hand, [the rise of private label] is a sign that plant-based alternatives have moved beyond being a niche curiosity: retailers do not invest in own-label ranges unless they believe there is an enduring consumer need and a category role,” Interpath’s Swiers said.

“On the other hand, I would be cautious about saying private label growth automatically proves mainstream adoption. It may also reflect pressure on price and a retailer response to consumers who are interested in the category but unwilling to pay a substantial premium.”

One example of a company facing these headwinds is Beyond Meat, regarded as one of the category’s biggest brands and among the first to introduce a ‘hyper-realistic,’ juicy, ‘bleeding’ plant-based beef burger. Though it initially saw huge success after it exploded onto the scene in 2019, valued at over $10 billion at its peak, the company has battled declining sales in recent years and has since diversified its portfolio into other plant-based functional beverages and other F&B formats.

While the brand’s premium price point could be a contributing factor behind falling sales, Swiers emphasises that we should be cautious about “extrapolating too much from any single administration or set of declining sales figures” and making assumptions about the broader category.

“Excessive hype can inflate valuations, distort capital allocation and leave businesses exposed when the market corrects,” he emphasised. “A key question is whether failure reflects category-wide demand weakness or company-specific issues around proposition, pricing, channel mix, operational execution and balance sheet resilience. In plant-based meat, it is usually a combination of both, which is why the analysis needs to be nuanced.”

In the US, Spins’ Flatland said there is no evidence higher-priced alt-meat SKUs are under more pressure, noting that private label is actually driving total category declines as retailers are reducing their own-brand offerings.

Swiers noted a similar picture in the UK, commenting: “GFI Europe’s UK data for the year to January 2025 actually showed private-label plant-based volumes falling faster than branded volumes, suggesting that price alone is not enough; taste, quality and product performance still matter.”

However, in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, GFI’s data showed private label is driving wider plant-based category retail growth, with cheaper products driving much of the increase.

Opportunities to differentiate

Despite the challenges, the category has clear opportunities for growth through tapping into what matters the most to consumers currently. Rising health-consciousness – and more specifically, the food industry’s current focus on fibre and protein – offers the chance for plant-based meat and seafood products to differentiate themselves.

Fibre is only found naturally in plant-based ingredients, giving these products something that conventional meat cannot compete with. Meanwhile, blending different plant proteins or using a high-quality complete protein, like soy, will appeal to consumers who are becoming increasingly savvy about protein quality, not just quantity.

Products with more natural, veg-forward and clean-label positioning are also likely to attract attention amid wider concerns about ultra-processed foods.

Neil Rankin, founder of Symplicity Foods, said that despite slower plant-based demand, “desire for more natural and healthy solutions is on the up, which suits us”.

The brand’s product range, which includes burgers, sausages and a recently launched roast dinner centerpiece, is centred around fermented vegetables and plant diversity. It uses slow, natural lacto-fermentation to build complexity and depth of flavour without relying on heavy processing, responding to demand for gut-friendly, nutritious and clean-label offerings.

“I think trying to duplicate [meat’s] taste and mouthfeel is rather pointless,” Rankin said. “Plant needs to do plant. Double down on its own bold flavours, being more nourishing, healthier and better for your gut. If it plays to its strengths, I think it could be better in every way.”

Ultimately, while health and nutrition matters, market research consistently highlights taste as the biggest driver of food and beverage purchase. Whether a product takes a more ‘veg-led’ or ‘hyper-realistic’ meat-mimicking approach, taste will be what convinces consumers to pick it up again.

“We have been developing plant-based products since 1990, and one thing we have learned is that there is never one solution for every consumer or every market,” said Schouten’s van Noorloos.

“We therefore believe the future lies in diversity: realistic meat alternatives alongside tempeh, mycoprotein, pulses, vegetables, seafood alternatives and entirely new product concepts. Innovation should not only focus on imitation, but also on creating new products that consumers value in their own right. Ultimately, the winners will be products that combine great taste, the right price, strong nutritional quality and genuine relevance for everyday eating.”

Top image: © ADM