Danish Crown launches a new plant based product series
"When we take new paths, it is absolutely crucial for us to have products ready that both taste good and that consumers can easily prepare. We now have those products, and as one of Denmark's largest suppliers of food, we would like to help develop the range of plant-based products. We believe in an increasing demand for alternative proteins in the coming years, so the products that hit the market now are our first small step into that market," says Jais Valeur, Group CEO of Danish Crown.
The product range consists of both ready meals and components for the meals. Common to all eight products is that they are easy for consumers to prepare, that the work has been targeted with the taste experience, and then the products are made without soy with either Nordic or organic vegetables as the main ingredient.
"We have worked intensively with the products to get completely in place with both taste, texture and preparation. In that work, it has been shown that the preparation is absolutely central to having a good experience with the products. In short, several of the plant-based products, for example, must be fried on lower heat than meat, and this is part of what we are now doing to teach consumers when they buy one of our products," says Mette Schacht Færch, director of marketing and innovation in Danish Crown Nordics and continues:
"Whether consumers choose our ready-made dishes or one of our meal components such as nuggets or burgers, the products are very quick to prepare, and we know this is important for many of the consumers who want to eat more plant-based."
In consumer surveys, more than one in three Danes answer that they have reduced their meat consumption within the last year, and two out of three Danes have a desire to eat more climate-friendly. Danish Crown estimates that in the short and medium term there will be a market for up to 500,000 meat-free meals a week in Denmark. Against this background, Danish Crown's goal is to achieve a turnover in the plant-based segment of a larger double-digit million amount already by 2022.
"We do not yet have a completely clear strategy in place for our investment in plant-based foods, but what is clear is that we must have food on the shelf for every taste. This applies regardless of whether you are for the good Danish pig, the expensive quality steak, the quick ready-made dish, organic meat or plant-based foods. And just like with our meat, we have a great desire that the plant-based foods can be produced from Danish raw materials, which ideally come from our owners - the Danish farmers. Whether it is practically possible is also one of the things we must have uncovered in our strategy work,"says Jais Valeur.
The range consists of eight products. Veggie farce, Veggie Bites, BBQ burger, Nuggets, Schnitzel and Veggie Deller as well as the Indian-inspired ready meals Tandoori and Byriani.
The new product series from Den Grønne Slagter can be found in individual retail chains from the beginning of January and will be in place widely in the retail trade's refrigerated counters at the end of January.
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