Target Taps Two Trends—Plant-Based and Private Label—With Good & Gather Expansion

Saying that "guest demand for plant-based options is higher than ever," Target is debuting Good & Gather Plant Based, an expansion of its private-label Good & Gather grocery brand.

The new Good & Gather Plant Based will feature more than 30 products spanning meatless and nondairy categories, according to a Target news release. New offerings include caramel vanilla almond-milk creamer, Italian-style meatless meatballs and Buffalo-style cauliflower wings.

Good & Gather is Target's largest private-label brand, with more than 2,000 products in total. The brand, which launched in 2019, is one of 10 Target-owned brands to generate at least $1 billion in sales in 2020; Good & Gather tallied more than $2 billion in sales last year, according to the company.

The debut of Good & Gather Plant Based comes a little more than a month after the launch of snacks-centric Favorite Day, Target's newest food and beverage private-label brand. Target Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell lauded the success of the company's private labels in an earnings presentation in March, noting that competitive pricing isn't the only thing driving guests to choose Target-owned brands; guests also simply "love the brands," he said.  

Across the industry, private labels beat out grocery name brands in growth for the fourth consecutive year in 2020, Coresight Research reported earlier this month. Although private label's outperformance vs. national brands was smaller than it was in 2019, consumers' pandemic-spurred trial of new private-label products, especially in the premium category, positions owned brands for further growth, according to Coresight. 

"If shoppers are won over by price and quality, turning them into permanent buyers, we will likely see a long-term swell in the private-label category," the report stated. 

Plant-based private-label products in particular may hold growth potential: U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods hit record highs in 2020, with nearly 2 in 5 Americans (39%) purchasing plant-based dairy alternatives and 18% buying meat alternatives (up from 14% in 2019).  

The Plant Based brand extension isn't Minneapolis-based Target's first foray into plant-based alternatives: Good & Gather already offers staples such as meatless burger patties and unsweetened almond milk. The new items, rather, expand the label's selection of "on-trend flavors" in the plant-based realm, as with Everything Seasoned Cashew Dip, according to the retailer.

"By adding Good & Gather Plant Based to our curated assortment of plant-based offerings, we're giving guests more of what they want and making it easy for them to discover the joy of food every day," said Rick Gomez, Target EVP and chief food and beverage officer, in a news release.