Plant Based Food Market Growth In America

The total American retail food market has grown 2% in dollar sales, indicating that the plant based category is helping to drive sales nationwide; since 2017 total plant based food sales has increased 31%. Plant based food unit sales are up 8.5% compared to total American food sales which has remained the same. This data covers the total American grocery marketplace and was commissioned from SPINS, and represents retail sales of plant based foods that directly replace animal products and was obtained over the 52 weeks ending on April 21,2019 from the SPINs channels. 

“Plant-based foods are a growth engine, significantly outpacing overall grocery sales,” said PBFA Senior Director of Retail Partnerships Julie Emmett. “We are now at the tipping point with the rapid expansion of plant-based foods across the entire store, so it is critical for retailers to continue to respond to this demand by offering more variety and maximizing shelf space to further grow total store sales.”

Growth of plant based alternative by category are as follows: 

• Milk is at $1.9 billion and growth of 6%
• Meat is at $801 million and growth of 10%
• Meals is at $387 million and growth of 6%
• Ice cream is at $304 million and growth of 26%
• Yogurt is at $230 million and growth of 39%
• Creamer is at $226 million and growth of 40%
• Butter is at $189 million and growth of 5%
• Cheese is at $160 million and growth of 19%
• Tofu & Tempeh is at $118 million and growth of 5%
• Ready to drink beverages are at $103 million and growth of 23%
• Condiments, dressings, and beverages are at $70 million and growth of 7%
• Spreads, dips, sour cream, and sauces are at $21 million and growth of 52%
• Eggs are at $6 million and growth of 38%

The plant based meat category has grown 10% over the past year to be worth over $800 million, and plant based meat now accounts for 2% of the retail packaged meat sales. Refrigerated plant based meat appears to be driving category growth sales by 37% in comparison to conventional meat category growing by 2%. 

Plant based milk options now represent 13% of the entire milk category including cheese, yogurt, and ice cream; across all stores these types of plant based products are growing rapidly while many conventional animal products decline in sales or become stagnate.

Plant based milks sales have increased 6% while cow’s milk has declined by 3%. Plant based yogurt sales has increased 39% while conventional yogurt has declined by 3%. Plant based cheese has increased by 19% while conventional cheese remained the same. Plant based ice cream, frozen yogurt and novelty has increased by 27% while conventional has grown by 1%.