Plant-based dairy vs meat summary
- Plant-based dairy holds 21 percent market share versus meat four percent
- Plant-based dairy volumes grew around 150 percent globally between 2015 and 2024
- Convenience drives adoption as plant-based milk, fits coffee, breakfasts routines
- Consumers trust simpler ingredients in dairy than complex plant-based meats
- Dairy innovates beyond mimicry while meat remains based around substitutes
There are two main pillars in the plant-based market – plant-based meat and plant-based dairy. Yet they haven’t seen the same levels of success.
While neither is without its problems, plant-based dairy has seen significantly greater market share than plant-based meat.
The success of plant-based dairy
Plant-based dairy products still take up a substantial slice of the plant-based market, retaining widespread consumption while plant-based meat falters.
According to consumer analytics company Circana, dairy alternatives have a 21% share of the plant-based food market in Europe, as opposed to plant-based meat’s 4%.
Plant-based dairy was the largest plant-based category in France, Italy, Spain and the UK in 2024, says think tank The Good Food Institute (GFI), although beat out by plant-based meat in Germany and the Netherlands.
“Plant-based milk and drinks are a long-term success story”, says Helen Breewood, senior market and consumer insights manager at GFI.
European sales volumes of plant-based drinks have increased by around 150% between 2015 and 2024.
Plant-based dairy is perceived as convenient
Plant-based dairy is seen as convenient for consumers. Plant-based milk in particular is nearly ubiquitous, and is often an option in coffee shops alongside regular milk. It is, quite simply, part of the food landscape.
Plant-based milk is often used in habitual contexts, such as in coffee and breakfasts, explains Lorena Savani, director of biotech and protein thematic leadership at the organisation EIT Food. Consumers prioritise foods that can fit easily into a routine; many feel that plant-based dairy can do this.
This is helped by the compatibility of plant-based dairy in certain situations. Barista-style products, which are found in cafes, mix well into hot drinks people already regularly consume, suggests GFI’s Breewood.
“The fact that plant-based milk can be used in everyday products people are already familiar with is likely to play a significant role.“
Plant-based dairy offers transparency
Consumers are increasingly distrustful of the food industry and preoccupied with transparency. According to EIT Food’s Savani, the tendency of plant-based dairy to be transparent about its ingredients may build consumer trust.
“Products that clearly communicate their source, for example oat or soy, are often easier to understand, whereas more complex formulations may create uncertainty.”
Consumers have a better understanding of plant-based dairy’s composition than of plant-based meat’s. Consumers broadly understand what oat, almond and coconut milk are, says Joseph Shaw Roberts, strategic insight director at market research company Worldpanel by Numerator. On the other hand, they’re less confident explaining what makes up a plant-based burger.
Further, the impact of the backlash against ultra-processed foods, Roberts suggests, is not affecting plant-based dairy as significantly as it is plant-based meat. In the UK, for instance, shoppers who prioritise ingredients and ‘naturalness’ are more likely to buy oat, soy or almond drinks than plant-based meat.
Plant-based dairy offers more than mimicry
Part of the reason for the success of plant-based dairy over meat may be due to the latter’s tendency to centre its appeal on its role as a substitute. While the category does include substitutes, plant-based dairy offers a wide range of products that offer consumers more than just a replacement.
The relative growth of the plant-based dairy category is due to the fact that it offers “functional, taste-forward new innovations” such as flike beverage meal replacements, says Ananda Roy, SVP for global thought leadership and consumer goods industry advisor for EMEA at Circana.
Meanwhile, plant-based meat is mainly based on meat imitation, and consumers want more than this. “Imitation is not the best form of flattery in food and plant-based meats that do not break out of the meat mimic mould are not seeing growth.”
Plant-based meat is “compared like-for-like with whole cuts of meat, whereas plant-based milk has carved out more distinct reasons for consumption”, adds Worldpanel by Numerator’s Roberts.
Plant-based meat is less transparent about its ingredients, less easy to incorporate into daily routines, and more tied to mimicking animal-based products than plant-based dairy. These factors may go a ways to explaining why one hasn’t performed as well as the other.
Manufacturers of plant-based meat can learn from dairy’s success. As for makers of plant-based dairy, it helps to understand what they’re doing right, and how they can keep their edge over meat alternatives.
