Trendy vegan brands are set for a wipeout, experts predict

Trendy vegan brands are set for a wipeout following a plunge in demand for animal-free food and drink products, experts predict

• The latest casualty in the vegan market is Oatly, the Swedish oat milk firm
• Yorkshire sausage-making company Heck has reduced its vegan-friendly range 

Experts predict the wipeout of trendy vegan brands after a plunge in demand for animal-free food and drink products. 

The latest casualty in the flatlining vegan market is Oatly, the Swedish oat milk firm, which has been forced to withdraw its dairy-free ice cream in the UK, The Observer reported. 

Yorkshire sausage-making company Heck has reduced its vegan-friendly range from ten products to just two. 

Managing director Andrew Keeble said: ‘The public somehow wasn’t quite ready for it yet. They didn’t want all that veg in the sausage.’ 

Supermarket sales of meat-free products fell by £37.3million in the year to September, analysts from NielsenIQ found. 

Experts predict the wipeout of trendy vegan brands after a plunge in demand for animal-free food and drink products. The latest casualty is Oatly, the Swedish oat milk firm

Yorkshire sausage-making company Heck has reduced its vegan-friendly range from ten products to just two

Other brands in the trendy sector now having to scale back include Innocent, the smoothie maker, which discontinued its dairy-free range earlier this year. 

Supermarket customers appear to have started cutting back on meat-replacement products as inflation rose, according to NielsenIQ. 

In response to the apparent trend, Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, told The Observer: ‘The real market is nowhere as big as some people hoped and some people ramped up. Reality is dawning.

‘We looked with some incredulity at the number of companies that were drawn into this space and the amount of shelf space that was given to it in the supermarkets. 

‘There will be some winners, but the numbers will be relatively small because we’ve been through a bubble.’ 

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