Sales of vegan and vegetarian meals continue to grow says Sodexo
January 11, 2024
Marking Veganuary 2024, Sodexo has today announced another year-on-year increase in the consumption of meat-free meals.
Analysis of over 2.7 million meals sold across 285 of its UK and Ireland client sites in 2023* reveals that 11% were vegan or vegetarian. This represents an incremental increase on the 10% reported in the previous year.
Sodexo’s diverse range of delicious meat-free meal options – including Southern Indian Chickpea Curry, Potato and Cauliflower Masala and Japanese Teriyaki Tofu, among many others – have been instrumental in driving this growth.
This aligns with Sodexo’s social impact pledge and its commitment to increase the take-up of sustainable meals by offering more plant-based meal options, and is a key action lever as part of its decarbonisation journey to net zero.
The research shows that consumers in the East Midlands chose meat-free dishes more frequently than in any other region, accounting for 19% of all meals sold compared to 18% in the North West, 16% in Ireland, 15% in London, 13% in Wales and 11% in Scotland.
Claire Atkins Morris, Director of Sustainability at Sodexo UK and Ireland, says:
The increasing preference for meat-free options among our customers is a testament to both the shift in consumer awareness and to the work done by our talented chefs to reformulate menus and create new delicious plant-forward and plant-based recipes.
With a wide array of tasty and nutritious options available across our client sites, it is important that our consumers are able to make well-informed decisions about the food they eat.
We have committed to featuring 33% plant-based meals on our menus by 2025, as we respond to evolving preferences and navigate towards Net Zero 2040.
Toni Vernelli, Head of Communication & Marketing at Veganuary, adds:
We are delighted to see an upward trend in Sodexo’s meat-free meal sales again. Offering tasty and accessible options is crucial in encouraging more individuals to consider plant-based choices.
Sodexo’s commitment to providing plant-based and plant-forward meal choices extends beyond its own menus. Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation has also played a pivotal role in supporting Made In Hackney’s mission to provide free and nutritious vegan meals to over 300 beneficiaries weekly since the inception of the partnership in 2021.
Sarah Bentley, Made In Hackney founder, says:
The Stop Hunger Foundation has provided critical support to our community meal service and cookery classes helping us tackle food insecurity for hundreds of households with nutritious, diverse, planet friendly meals.
Evolving the nation's eating habits to more plant-centred eating is a crucial tool in the fight against the climate crisis and spiraling lifestyle related health diseases. It is inspiring to work with TSHF and Sodexo as they see the interconnectedness of all these issues and how plant-based food can play a central role in tackling them all.
In 2023, a three-year core costs grant of £50,000 was awarded, empowering the charity to enhance food security, offer life skills training, and reduce social isolation through volunteer engagement.
*Research is based on Electronic Point of Sales systems (EPOS) data gathered from 285 sites in the UK and Ireland covering the period January to November (inclusive) 2023. As such, the data only pertains to meals sold by Sodexo and not to other meals provided by Sodexo.