Big changes in technology and consumer attitudes are creating bigger opportunities for plant-based food businesses.

Working in the food and drink industry has always meant working in the front line of change, given how quickly consumer habits and tastes evolve. There’s a reason even the giants of the industry, the Heinzes and Coca Colas, are constantly introducing new products or variations – to stay on top. You can never stop innovating and adapting. This also means it’s an industry where a new business with its finger on the pulse of change and the agility to move fast can break through.

Look around, we are in the midst of what could be one of the most pivotal advancements in our food production history. It is the merging of technological advancement and the growing cultural awareness of taking on a vegan diet - non-reliant on animal products. This significant crossroad allows for creative and innovative ideas to form. Just early this month an Israeli based firm called ‘Redefine Meat unveiled the world’s first 3D-printed, meat-free steak’ announced they would be rolling their plant-based steaks to selected restaurants and retailers later this year. I think we can all agree with CEO Eshchar Ben Shitrit who stated “This is the start of a new era in alternative meat”.. If you think this is a gimmicky outlier, think again, as a new report proves that there are indeed huge changes in attitude towards plant-based foods happening right now – and these developments are creating huge opportunities.

In June, market researchers FMCG Gurus released their “Plant-based Food Attitudes 2020” report. It showed enormous changes in the previous year alone, with one in ten consumers having reduced or eliminated meat from their diet. It’s also clear that recent turbulence has only accelerated this change. In April, 18% of consumers across the world were planning to include more plant-based food in their diets for health reasons as a result of COVID-19. By May this figure had already jumped to 24%.

If your business is offering meat-based products, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity, but the ostrich strategy of putting your head in the sand certainly won’t help. Instead, you need to be doing as much as you can to emphasise the health benefits of your food, since the primary reasons people are adopting reduced-meat diet is a combination of both health and ethical principles. If you can adapt quickly, and embrace the right marketing and messaging for this new world, you can outmanoeuvre slower rivals and get your business back on top in no time.

However, if your business is offering plant-based products, the year ahead could be the year where you make your biggest breakthroughs. The big guns have certainly recognised the way the wind is blowing. On July 2nd, global tech giant DuPont launched Danisco Planit in Australia, which it believes will play a crucial role in developing plant-based products in the FMCG industry by advising on how to combine ingredients for best taste and sensory experiences. The days of meat-substitute burgers tasting like sawdust are gone. Get ready for some plant-based meat that will truly taste like the real thing.

However, this doesn’t need to be an opportunity for the giants alone. Smaller food producers untainted by having ever been involved in meat production can certainly seize ground. This is particularly true in Australia, where food businesses have a head-start thanks to the excellent reputation of Australian agriculture globally. As Chuck Magro, President of food services giant Nutrien, recently told Farm Online: “Compared to Brazil or the US or maybe somewhere in Asia, when you look at Australia there is a view that the quality and supply chain transparency is so much better.” Given Nutrien’s 25,000 staff in 14 countries, he should know.

The key thing to do is to just move as fast as you can to keep up with our rapidly moving food industry or the pace of change could easily leave you behind. If your business is still in a development stage, you need to arm yourself with the latest evidence and persuade your investors to join you in accelerating towards your vision. If your business is already mature, now is the time to look to aggressively expand, whether that be within Australia or into overseas markets which are changing just as rapidly. This could be the year when all your hard work pays off and you take your business to the next level.

Of course, whenever a rocket is sent skywards, Elon Musk style, there’s a lot of not so glamorous work done behind the scenes. The structure has to be tested and every nut and bolt double-tested to prevent the whole enterprise disintegrating as it accelerates. For a food business that means making sure that you have your company structure firmly bolted down, with the right financial and legal advisers there to protect you as you move ahead.

Once you have all this in place you know you can move rapidly, determinedly and confidently to seize opportunities. Every once in awhile the world we work in is shaken up, kaleidoscope style. Many businesses will wait to see exactly how the pieces settle before they do anything, but the smartest businesses will already have a strong sense of how things will look in the future and will already be carving out their place.