Market entry strategy for plant-based meat in Europe

Situation

A €10B+ multinational food ingredient company (Food Co*) with a division in plant-based meat analogues (PBMA) saw a growth opportunity in Europe's rapidly expanding PBMA market and the management team was looking for regional expertise.

The Managing Director of Food Co's plant-based business unit engaged BGP to evaluate "where to play" and "how to win" in Europe. As Food Co approached internal resource allocation discussions for the upcoming year, the Managing Director planned to use BGP’s strategy work to justify investments in her business unit.

Our approach

To answer the two questions “Where to play?” and “How to win?” we completed a due diligence of the Client’s internal capabilities and market opportunities, as well as explored the competitive landscape, benchmarking competitors’ performance per product and customer type.

We focused on 5 key countries to assess the total addressable market within 5-year time horizon. Finally, we set the ambition target and unique selling proposition (USP) for the plant-based meat division.

Figure 1: Retail market breakdown (A similar view was created for the out of home channel)

Figure 2: Competitor benchmarking on the key purchasing criteria

Results

The project enabled the managing director to secure the required resources for the business group despite ongoing company reorganizations. The “Where to play” strategy identified quick-service restaurants and private-label retail as key channels needed to achieve the €250m revenue target. The “How to play” strategy included a "must-win" list of key customers, identified the key product categories per country and provided a high-level overview of the capabilities and budgets needed to achieve the targets.

At the end of the project Food Co had clarity on their competitive performance and was ready to embark on the journey to grow their business unit.

*the client’s name has been changed to protect their confidentiality

For more information on our services and how we can support you on informed strategy decisions, schedule a call with our Managing Partner, Floor.

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