What is the difference between Nestlé, an international food industry giant, and HappyVore, a young French plant-based alternative? A lot, it must be admitted. However, this week, the SME born in 2019 has just made a notable breakthrough, overtaking Nestlé at the head of the French market for plant-based alternatives to meat.
A landmark shift
The plant section is no longer a marketing fantasy. In any case, this is what HappyVore seems to prove, which has achieved the feat of surpassing a large global group. It must be said that where Nestlé relied on a logic of global range and delocalized production, the young French company played the opposite card, by banking on a factory in the Loiret, ingredients from French sectors, and a very assertive speech on food sovereignty.
At a time when the simple mention of “plant-based meat” already causes unions in the meat food industry to jump, this reversal has a very particular impact. Plates are slowly becoming more plant-based, with meat consumption on the decline and flexitarianism now the majority among the French. Between the two, HappyVore stepped into the breachby offering alternatives to meat, but not only that. With its production in France, the SME ticks all the boxes of the French success story. At a time when the plant-based section has long been dominated by products manufactured on the other side of Europe, seeing a local brand take leadership there reinforces the idea that the food transition can also be a lever of economic power.
How do we overthrow Nestlé?
Pushing Nestlé into a major retail sector requires ticking three boxes: taste, Price, and credibility. In terms of taste, HappyVore has chosen to imitate the codes of meat by offering merguez, nuggets, or even chicken aiguillettes without chicken… The objective is not so much to replace, as to change (a little) the habits of flexitarians, without reforming their plate.
In terms of price, the SME invested in a factory to lower costs, while focusing on French production. The image remains. In this area, Nestlé has a heavy industrial heritage, when HappyVore plays the card of the young impact start-up. Enough to tick a few boxes.
Making France a plant superpower
This episode proves that a French actor can not only exist but dominate a segment that is breaking away from the well-established giants of mass distribution. If the trajectory is confirmed, HappyVore could become the textbook case that will give ideas to other agri-food SMEs. The brand is not the only one in this segment: with Accro, La Vie and Planted, more and more players are trying to impose a flexitarian vision on a market where meat consumption is falling, both out of ecological conviction and taste.
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