French dairy giant Danone has launched a ‘Plant-Based Acceleration Unit’, which should push its plant-based turnover from two to five billion euros by 2025.
A new chapter
One of those extra three billion euros is supposed to come from mature markets (Europe and the United States), the two other new billions should come from an expansion to new areas and categories, a spokesperson told FoodNavigator. Geographical expansion can com from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as from two continents where Danone’s current development is rather in its infancy: Latin America and Africa.
New categories include coffee, and food products for babies and for the elderly. Another path to be explored are plant-based versions of existing products: the range of yogurt brands like Activia and Danio have already been extended with a plant-based version. Danone believes that veganism will be a substantial part of a post-corona world, and says to be ready for a whole new chapter in its long story.
Danone’s focus on plant-based products is not new, as demonstrated by acquisitions such as that of Belgian dairy replacement producer Alpro in 2016. The latter was already one of the multinational’s better performing brands in its strong first quarter results.
