Marketing Meatless

Meatless Monday has been catching on, and I have tried to follow the trend in an effort to shrink my carbon footprint and improve my health. The thing is, I am more likely to reach for a can of chickpeas as a meat alternative than a package of seitan. Meat alternatives have always kind of sketched me out since my mother used to sometimes send me off with a lunchbox full of flabby tofu-dogs when I was a child. I consider myself the opposite of a picky eater. I am willing to try anything once, and I like about 95 percent of the things I try, but these types of products have always seemed a bit alien to me. In my adult life, I have started to experiment with the products once again, but only because I have happened across recipes that have inspired me. For example, I recently made an awesome baked sriracha tofu.

A recent Mintel study found that “meat-free days” is consumers’ top reason for using meat alternatives, and among those who consume meat alternatives, two-thirds say they would eat more of these products if they had better guidance on how to prepare them.

Grocery stores could use Meatless Monday as an opportunity to not only boost meat alternative sales, but also do something great for the environment and educate consumers on how to prepare these items. Promoting Meatless Monday during the weekend (for the meal-preppers) and on Monday (for the last-minute shoppers) could really boost shopper engagement. I think it would be really fun to walk past the meat alternatives case (something I usually ignore) and see signs promoting Meatless Monday and recipe cards that give me some great ways to prepare these items.