Focus On Plant Based: 8 November

Focus On: Plant-Based Food & Drink

By Rob Brown (rob_j_a_brown@hotmail.com)

Publishing: 8 November 2025

Advertising deadline: 24 October 2025

Submissions deadline: 20 October 2025

Print, digital and sponsorship opportunities

The matter of nutrition is a constant headache for plant-based products. As The Vegan Society noted in a recent op-ed in The Grocer: “If you read only the headlines in mainstream press… you’d be left thinking the entire non-dairy milk sector was a poor nutritional alternative to cow milk.” It’s not just an issue for soy and oat milks: the conversation around nutrition is critical across the plant-based category, from alt-meat burgers and faux-cheese to vegan ready meals.

• So, how nutritional are plant-based alternatives compared to the products they ape?
• How are concerns over nutrition shaping category sales?
• And how are plant-based brands addressing consumers’ concerns about nutrition?

UPF bugbear

• Where does the UPF debate fit into this picture?
• How are sales being affected by UPF worries – and which plant-based sectors are impacted most?
• Any sectors unaffected? Why?
• How are brands responding? Have any reformulated their products?

Cost comparison

• How are prices affecting the category’s ability to compete with dairy and meat products?

Competition heating up

• What new products have been hitting shelves? In which sectors?
• What, if any, health/nutrition claims do they make?

Plant-based for kids

• It’s not just adult consumers that plant-based brands are targeting. Younger consumers are an underserved market – but that’s starting to change. One brand has launched a plant-based range for kids this summer. Does is signal a broader expansion by brands into kids’ foods and drinks? What are some other areas of opportunity for plant-based sales?

Innovations

• We will profile four new products or ranges, ideally ones that have not appeared in The Grocer before. We need launch date, rsp, and a hi-res picture of each.