Meat-free leader invests £150m in production

Quorn, the market leader in meat alternatives has invested £150m in production after seeing sales drop as it struggled to keep up with demand due to production capacity restraints.

The Grocer, reported that sales fell for the brand 7.8% in the 16 weeks to 11 July, with data company Nielson highlighting that the firm had failed to capitalise on the lockdown surge in sales amongst top meat alternative brands.

In fact data shows the sector grew value by over a quarter (28.7%) to £122.6m during lockdown, while the Yorkshire business actually saw a marginal fall (0.1%) in value of sales over the same period.

The figures are a blow for the firm which saw “unprecedented” demand for its products during Veganuary, leading supply shortages which continued into lockdown.

Phil Watson, commercial director at Quorn told The Grocer that the brand and focused on key products in order to “ease manufacturing challenges and increase production efficiency”.

However Watson added that following a £150m investment in production over the next three years the brand would look to meet the growing demand for meat-substitutes.