Alpro, the original plant-based food & drink brand, explore some of the trends that have emerged and are storming ahead into 2019.
Plant-based on tap
In 2019, ‘busy is the new black’ which means that today, people expect their ever-changing demands to be catered to at speed, wherever they go, all throughout the day.
From a coffee point of view, now that one in three of us are regularly choosing a plant-based beverage out of home[1], this means coffee shops need to make soya, coconut, almond and oat options readily available and easy to spot to capture the plant-based opportunity and satisfy consumer demand.
With almost two thirds of people saying it’s important for their coffee shop to offer more than one plant-based option[2] on their menu, the good news is, the Alpro For Professionals range now has four plant-based drinks, with a new Oat variant recently joining Coconut, Almond and Soya For Professionals, with each ingredient being specifically developed to work in coffee, allowing baristas to create delicious plant-based coffees without compromise.
Health is a hot topic
It goes without saying that health and wellbeing is high on the agenda for ‘wellness Britain’, and people are more conscious of the effects that the food and drink they consume can have on their health than ever before. Today, people get that diet is much more about what you do eat, than about what you don’t – and this realisation is playing out in the coffee arena, with more and more people using their daily caffeine hit as a chance to add some goodness to their day. That’s exactly why the likes of matcha, turmeric, and mushroom are hitting the menus of our high streets, and why plant-based ingredients such as oat, coconut, almond and soya are filling the nation’s coffee cups on a daily basis.
Sustainability reigns supreme
People are more aware than ever before of the impact that their food and drink choices can have on the health of our planet, this is filtering into the coffee scene and now consumers are looking into how the ingredients and products are being produced.
The great news for coffee drinkers is that choosing to add a plant-based alternative to their coffee is an easy way to help to reduce our environmental impact! Eating and drinking plant-based for just one day can reduce our carbon footprint by 2kg – that’s the energy needed to make 1,064 cups of coffee! [3]
The environment and sustainability have always been at the heart of everything Alpro does, from sourcing the ingredients as locally as possible to ensuring all the soya beans are 100% sustainable and non-GMO, and do not originate from deforested areas.
[1] At least once a month according to the Allegra Project Café UK 2018 Report by the Allegra World Coffee Portal
[2]Allegra Research UK U&A PBA 2016
[3] 2kg of CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent. The standard unit for measuring carbon footprints