The plant-based cheese market has come leaps and bounds over the past decade with products improving on everything from taste to texture and, now, even smell. But one of its biggest hurdles appears to be getting consumers to stick around as makers tweak formulations and figure out how to speak to an audience beyond the vegan crowd. Data Dive: The category overall has seen sales ebb and flow over the past three years, according to recent data from market research firm Circana. - In 2022, sales were up nearly 70% year-over-year; by 2023, sales were on the decline (-9%), and those drops have begun to decelerate now in 2024 with sales down 4.5% year-over-year.
What’s going to make for a brand that can grow? According to Bart Adlam, CEO of Bellevue, Washington’s GOOD PLANeT Foods, it comes down to the product types and a brand’s ability to appeal to flexitarians. After six years of selling a category-standard coconut oil-starch-based alt-cheese, GOOD PLANeT thinks it’s found a toehold through its Olive Oil cheese platform, which launched last fall. The product quickly garnered national distribution at Whole Foods, Sprouts and Misfits Market; it has lately secured regional placements at Wegmans, Price Chopper, Giant, and Woodman’s, as well as a growing list of small chains and independents. Adlam noted the shred format has been most successful, followed by its recently launched slices. What Adlam said: “There was specific concern [among consumers] with how high the saturated fat is on the leading brands, which are coconut oil based. At this time we were actually seeing the small plant-based cheese segment decline in size, and it was clear that, as an industry, we were not doing enough to appeal to the flexitarian consumer.” That’s a valid concern: According to The Brightfield Group’s Quarterly Consumer Wellness Survey from Q2, plant-based cheese consumers are primarily millennials that are likely to prioritize high protein, low sodium and clean label products and often buy almond milk (53%) or oat milk (38%) but aren’t strict vegans. Good Planet isn’t alone. Plant-based cheese platform Vevan, owned by Schuman Cheese reformulated its entire line earlier this year, swapping its coconut and palm oil base for pea milk in an effort to improve the product’s nutritional position and performance. And of course there is Plonts: the new brand proudly proclaims it has created stinky plant-based by using microbes and aging techniques. But beyond the startup and semi-artisanal scene, major food industry players have also dug deeper in an attempt to offer more plant-based cheeses. Kraft’s evolving JV with NotCo produced the first plant-based version of its iconic blue box mac and cheese, which was a fast follow to its lineup of alt-cheese slices and plant-based Philadelphia cream cheese. Both Walmart and Whole Foods have joined the category under their respective private label brands: Walmart has two vegan-friendly cheese SKUs under its bettergoods platform and Whole Foods introduced plant-based parmesan shreds to its 365 brand. Go Deeper: Plonts Bets on Microbes to Crack the Code on [Stinky] Plant-Based Cheese | 
