The Collapse of the Vegan Boom

With sales of plant-based foods falling 4.5% in a year and vegan restaurant chains collapsing, the short-lived vegan boom – driven in part by climate concerns – appears to be over. The Telegraph has more.

Signs of veganism’s decline appeared in a recent report by the Good Food Institute Europe, which found that sales of plant-based food in Britain fell by 4.5% to £898 million in the year to January 2025.

Separate data from NIQ show that the share of households buying plant-based meat alternatives at least once a year has waned since 2022, with the organisation highlighting a shift in “flexitarian shoppers back into animal-based proteins”. …

The current state of affairs is a far cry from five years ago, when shoppers could hardly move for vegan ad campaigns.

Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Asda and Aldi all unveiled plant-based ranges while KFC, Krispy Kreme and Magnum made similar attempts to cash in on the vegan hype.

But many are starting to realise the appetite from consumers simply isn’t there. Last year, Wagamama axed a string of vegan favourites from menus, including its ‘Vegatsu’ curry and its ‘vegan K-Dogs’. Andy Hornby, the Chief Executive of the chain’s owner, The Restaurant Group, argued that interest from diners wasn’t high enough to justify continuing the dishes’ inclusion.

Marketing for the chain’s most recent menu additions makes noticeably less of a fuss about its vegan credentials.

“People are realising that the volumes going through fully vegan products are very low,” says Futter.

“For manufacturers, when volumes are that small and you can’t see a long-term future, there comes a point where you decide to do something else.”

Last year was also a reckoning for businesses that sought to dominate the vegan market.

In April, Neat Burger, the vegan burger chain backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Lewis Hamilton, shut all of its UK restaurants after suffering substantial losses.

Yet Britain is not alone – vegan specialities have also vanished from menus across Europe.

The McDonald’s plant burger was quietly pulled from Austrian Branches in July while Domino’s shrank its vegan offering as part of a November relaunch.

Meat-free menus are only a cost-saver for restaurants if vegan dishes sell, says Grace Withers, of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) – but consumer appetite has been overestimated.

“Even when veganism was at its most popular, we saw far more people claiming to be vegan than actually managing to stick to it,” says Withers.

“People often lapsed when they were hungry and wanted something tasty. We saw this during Veganuary as well.”

Only 1% of those who signed up for Veganuary made it to the end of the month having stuck to the diet, according to the AHDB, a public body which supports farmers and growers.

Cost has also been a factor, as plant-based substitutes such as Quorn and tofu have increased in price more than cheaper meats in recent years.

“Consumers are very price-driven because of the cost-of-living crisis,” says Withers. “Meat-free products are more expensive than pig meat and chicken, so they are not competing on price.”

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