Expansion of prominent plant-based brands, including Oatly, Beyond Meat, and Impossible Foods, across Asia Pacific markets demonstrates the growing potential of plant-based products in coffee shops globally
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A Starbucks Impossible Pasta Salad Bowl | Photo: Starbucks
Starbucks has extended its plant-based menus across stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand, and Taiwan. The new ranges will be tailored to local markets and include products such as Oatmilk Macchiato in Malaysia and the Philippines, the Maize Impossible Sandwich in Hong Kong and Beyond Meat Bolognese Penne in Taiwan.
The move highlights the
growing adoption of plant-based products globally as many consumers, particularly those under the age of 35, seek to reduce their environmental impact and maintain healthier lifestyles.
The deployment also highlights the increasing influence of prominent
plant-based brands on coffee shop consumers globally.
In April 2020 dairy alterative brand
Oatly sold a $200m stake in its business to a consortium of investors reportedly including former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman, to grow production around the world.
In September 2020 plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat announced it would open a new production facility near Shanghai in order to facilitate growth across the vast Chinese market.
Starbucks announced it would begin serving plant-based food in Canada and the US in February and June 2020 respectively. It began serving Oatly, Beyond Meat and Omnipork, a plant-based pork substitute, products in China from April 2020.
Other major coffee chains made forays into the plant-based category in recent months. Both
Dunkin’ and Tim Hortons have trialled partnerships with Beyond Meat in the last year, while the UK’s largest coffee chain, Costa Coffee, unveiled a plant-based food and beverage range in early 2020.