This is a gross misrepresentation. Ruegenwalder is not turning 100% plant based, in terms of sold products I would be surprised if they turned > 5% plant based, but I don't know the numbers there.
It seems that they don't plan to "turn 100% plant based", but rather built a new factory that is 100% plant based.
The ≤5% estimate is just as inaccurate though.
> “Over the full year [2021], we sold for the first time more of our vegan and vegetarian products than of the classic meat products. Last year, the ratio had been fifty-fifty,” the spokesperson added, without giving detailed figures.
Well, render me extremely surprised! I am wondering if that is because the population as a whole goes vegan/vegetarian (which I doubt), or if they are one of the few producers offering a wide range for vegetarians, and so they get all the vegetarians as customers.
> I am wondering if that is because the population as a whole goes vegan/vegetarian (which I doubt),
At the moment, the number seems to be more around 10%.
> or if they are one of the few producers offering a wide range for vegetarians, and so they get all the vegetarians as customers.
Yes, mainly this. They have a big focus on vegi-products, were building the market in the past, but were also cannibalizing other producers and products. But still, the market grows, people are more often buying replacements, going half-vegetarian and such. But we have to see whether this sticks. The market is still very dynamic, with new products coming every some months and old products changing from time to time. At the moment there is big hype with many companies going into the market, but not all of them are that good.
The marketing director that started the meatless program said "The [meat] sausage will become the cigarette of the future". Sales were stagnating or declining. Sales in the meatless segment were low but increasing steadily and they entered that segment, convinced, that they could produce alternatives with broader appeal. For one year, they spent all their advertisment budget on the new meatless line.
Initially the target group was "reducers". The first products included a lot of egg protein, so vegans were not targeted at all. Somewhat surprisingly, they decided to launch the new line under their well-known and established brand. That probably prevented some marketing claims that may have been off-puting to their existing customers.
> I am wondering if that is because the population as a whole goes vegan/vegetarian (which I doubt)
The truth is actually somewhat close to that – not everyone goes vegetarian, but the vast majority of young adults are replacing some (not all) of the meat in their diet with replacement products.
Rügenwalder isn't the only company seeing such growth, though. Nestlé (Garden Gourmet) and Iglo are seeing similar growth.
