making sense of buyers have declined for the last four years. The technology and products have improved: The price gap, for example, between conventional STOP Plant-based A lt-meat retail sales in the US have dropped consistently since 2020, and household penetration and total number ALT-MEAT MARKETERS CAN CITE REAMS OF SCIENCE AND DATA THAT WON’T MOVE THE NEEDLE ON SALES. UNDERSTANDING AND CONNECTING TO DIFFERENT GROUPS’ VALUES WILL. By Lisa M. Keefe, editor in chief Photos by Steve Puppe meat products and alt-meats has dropped to a low of $3.18/lb. from $4.25/lb. in 2020. Meat ana-logue marketers have bragged on the number of animals their products take out of the food chain, the reduction in water and land use, the many ways that alt-meats are, as a whole, considered healthier than their animal protein counterparts. And the vast majority of consumers have turned a deaf ear. The alt-meat sector needs to use a different playbook altogether, one that speaks to prospec-tive consumers’ values and emotional needs, says Charlie Arnot, CEO of Look East food and ag communications agency in Gladstone, Mo., and of the Center for Food Integrity (CFI). Alt-Meat August 2025 23
Alt-Meat August 2025: Page 23
