Tesco records biggest Veganuary

The supermarket giant reported that demand for plant-based foods soared by more than 35% year-on-year.

Among the most popular plant-based goods being bought at Tesco stores across the UK in January were: Wicked Kitchen Hot Burrito (+750%), Plant Chef Vegan Burgers (+500%), and Plant Chef Spicy Bean Burgers (+350%).

Tesco head of plant-based food innovation, Derek Sarno, said: “The last year has seen some truly ground-breaking and tempting new plant-based foods come on the market which have encouraged more people to go vegan, whether full time or as part of the Meat-Free Monday campaign.

“At the beginning of this month we launched our first plant-based bakery lines and the recent extensions made to our chilled, frozen and dairy vegan ranges have been the reason why we’re seeing such strong demand.”

In addition, the supermarket giant also saw a sharp increase in demand for many low and no alcohol products. During Dry January, demand for low and no alcohol spirits rocketed by more than 50%, while sales of low and no wines soared by 40%.

Among the most popular products were: Freixenet 0.0% Sparkling with demand up by 300%, San Miguel 0.0% which saw sales increase by nearly 50%, and Seedlip (spirit alternative) – sales up by 25%.

Beer, wines and spirits buying manager, Hayley Easton, said: “This year we’ve seen a significant increase in sales of low and no alcohol wine and spirits in particular, and we’ve diversified our range through branded innovation.

“Within spirits we have expanded the range with new and exciting products such as Stryyk Not R*M, which is a great alcohol-free alternative for rum-based drinks.

“Our absolute star performer this January was the newly launched gin alternative, Gordon’s Alcohol Free 0.0%, which exceeded all sales’ expectations.”