Vegan Food Sales Surge Across UK Supermarkets

Vegan food sales have surged across UK supermarkets following the rise in veganism at the start of the year. Supermarkets are expecting the sales to continue to increase as The Vegan Society reports that more than half of UK adults are adopting ‘vegan buying behaviour’, and the number of vegans in the UK has grown fourfold in the past ten years.

Most recently, Waitrose reported an increase of meat-free haggis sales by 36 per cent in the run up to Burns Night, and the gluten-free version had soared by 152 per cent compared to last year. Chloe Graves, a buyer or Waitrose said: “We will be expanding our range of vegan products this year. We recently introduced a vegan course at our Kings Cross cookery school, which sold out.”

The beginning of the year saw Tesco introducing their Wicked Kitchen range in collaboration with Derek Sarno, which has filled the gap in the market for convenient on-the-go vegan food with the Wicked Kitchen range including pizzas, wraps and ready meals, in the 20 options available.

“We’ve only just begun and over this next year, we’ll be developing foods and expanding the menu offering,” Sarno said. He added: “We’ll be keeping seasonal ingredients in mind and listening to customers’ wants and needs.”

Whole foods have reported that the sale of the Vegan Baileys Irish Cream sold out in the UK within two months, and a similar product made by Marks & Spencer’s, their dairy-free Coconut and Chocolate Cream was one of the most popular Christmas drinks which sold out in less than four weeks.

The Co-Op have reported a 3 per cent increase compared to last year on their sales of vegan wine, with the retailer known for their clear labelling of vegan products. Veganism is described as a movement that is set to last, with Pied à Terre, a Michelin starred restaurant increasing their vegan options

Founder of Pied à Terre, David Moore said: “I firmly believe that plant based eating is not a trend, it’s a real thing and we are only seeing the very thin edge of what will be a game-changing wedge.”

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