Quorn is making a multi-million-pound investment in research and development, following a boom in vegan food.
The seven million pound investment at its North Yorkshire headquarters in an attempt to capitalise on the vegan boom, whilst keeping new rivals at bay.
“Nobody can yet produce the array of products available at such high quality and we want to keep that advantage,” said Quorn’s chief executive, Kevin Brennan.
“All over the world we have seen a real step-change in the way people are eating. Young consumers are really starting to have concerns around meat from a health and sustainability point of view. It’s not that younger consumers are all turning vegan or vegetarian but they are eating substantially less meat,” he added.
Whilst all Quorn products are vegetarian, many of the products contain some egg.
The group revealed a 12 percent rise in sales to £112 million in the first six months of 2018.
Quorn is aiming to reach $1 billion (£760 million) of annual sales by 2027 and is on target.
“We are already seeing amazing growth internationally: Australian sales are up 50 percent and US sales are up 23 percent. In the US supermarket giant Kroger, we now have the fastest selling product in the [meat alternative] category. With continued investment we believe we can continue this level of performance,” said Brennan.
“I think the irony is that the product was almost developed ahead of its time. We’ve been around for 30 years but the demand for this kind of product 30 years ago was quite small. It has come into its own in the last five years in the UK and the world,” he added.
The UK is Quorn’s biggest market, rising by 12 percent this year due to the popularity of snacks such as vegan scotch eggs and cocktail sausages.
The drive for vegan and vegetarian food is partly being driven by Netflix, who are releasing documentaries addressing the environmental and health effects of eating meat such as Cowspiracy.