WICKED KITCHEN AND BEYOND MEAT LAUNCH FROZEN READY MEAL RANGE

PUBLISHING DATE
May 24, 2021

Tesco’s vegan brand, Wicked Kitchen, has teamed up with Beyond Meat, the plant-based meat alternative producer, to launch a range of frozen ready meals.

The new offerings are the first frozen meals to be sold under the Wicked Kitchen label, which was launched three years ago by Tesco and vegan chefs Derek and Chad Sarno.

The launch comes amid continued increases in the numbers of vegan foods sold in supermarkets in the UK, with the popularity of diets free from animal products rising significantly in the country.

The packaging for the new meals – which focus on hot and spicy flavours – include both Wicked Kitchen’s and Beyond Meat’s names and logos.

There is already an extensive Wicked Kitchen range at Tesco that encompasses, for example, griller patties, prepared vegetables, herbs and spices, pasties, stir-fries and pizza ingredients.

The new range of frozen ready meals consists of a tofu curry, a chilli, a burrito, a biryani, tofu and rice, and a Korean-inspired bowl.

Beyond Meat has a wide range of products separate to the new Wicked Kitchen collaboration, and these include Beyond Burger, Beyond Meatballs, Beyond Breakfast Sausage and Beyond Beef.

The company says that its plant-based meats combine “expert innovation with simple, non-GMO ingredients” and offer benefits in animal welfare, health, resource use and carbon emissions.

Illustrating the market’s growth, figures reported by The Guardian last year indicate that in 2019 there were 109 trademarks registered for vegan food and drink products in the UK – more than double 2018’s total of 47.

A survey commissioned by the Vegan Society reported that the number of vegans in the UK increased from 150,000 in 2014 to 600,000 in 2019.


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