Veggie Challenge

Colruyt Group is leading the way in promoting vegetarian and plant-based food through its support of the Veggie Challenge and Xtra initiatives throughout March. The Colruyt Group Insights Platform provides numerous opportunities to explore this category in depth. Read on to learn more.

Protein Shift

In 2021, several of Colruyt Group's formulas (including Colruyt Lowest Prices, Bio-Planet, and OKay) signed the Green Deal Protein Shift, committing to help improve the ratio of animal and plant-based food on Belgian plates. The goal is to move toward a ratio of 60% vegetable protein sources and 40% animal sources, as the current figures are reversed: 60% animal and 40% vegetable.

This shift is motivated by the smaller ecological footprint of vegetable protein sources and the health benefits of alternating between protein sources.

Inspiration & assortment

We offer our customers inspiration with over 2,800 vegetarian recipes (Leuke recepten voor lekkere gerechten | Colruyt Lekker Koken) available on the Colruyt Lowest Prices website and in our brochures. Across Colruyt Group's various food formulas, we have more than 520 fresh vegetarian products, including prepared foods, sandwich fillings, and meat substitutes. This is nearly double what we offered five years ago.

Our own brand of vegetarian products, including meat substitutes, spreads, and sandwich fillings, has been available at Colruyt since 2011. Our BONI range offers 50% vegan products, and we carry brands such as Garden Gourmet, Violife, Blue Butcher, Bonmush, De Vegetarische Slager, Vivera, Quorn,..

Tofu, (vegan) minced meat, and (veggie) meatballs are the top sellers in our range, and we also offer products tailored to specific occasions such as vegetarian gourmet dishes and oven snacks during the end-of-year holidays, and veggie skewers, burgers, and sausages during barbecue season. Our range also includes numerous dairy substitutes, with over 270 plant-based dairy products available across Colruyt Group, an increase of 20% compared to 5 years ago.

Customers

Colruyt mainly targets flexitarians who are looking for ways to reduce their meat consumption and want tasty alternatives. Although the group of vegans and vegetarians is currently small, we see this group growing all the time. Almost 1 in 5 Colruyt customers sometimes buy a product from the vegetarian range of meat substitutes, and this figure is expected to rise in the future, as a third of people say they are willing to consume more plant-based protein products.

The veggie share is highest at Bio-Planet, where almost half of the customers occasionally buy a vegetarian alternative, compared to Colruyt where it's about one-fifth of the customers. Vegetarian alternative customers are mainly younger profiles and usually don't buy exclusively from that range.

When a Colruyt Group customer buys a vegetarian alternative, they are more than 350% (!) likely to also purchase from the "Food of the World" range, followed by the "parapharmacy" (+300%) and "pasta and rice" (+200%) categories.

Veggie Challenge

During March, the VeggieChallenge was available at several Colruyt Group formulas, with an emphasis on plant-based offers, including vegetables, plant-based dairy products, nuts, and pulses.

There were also vegetarian tastings in Colruyt shops and at the head office, and interesting promotions on vegetarian products.

Colruyt Group is also committed to projects that promote the transition to more sustainable protein sources, such as: