Plant-Based Meat Isn’t Weakening – It’s Simply Growing Up

Liran Gruda – Chef & Head of R&D

If it seems to you that the plant-based meat sector is weakening, you’re not entirely wrong but you’re not entirely right either.
The category hasn’t weakened. It has simply stopped giving discounts. Discounts on taste. Discounts on health. Discounts on quality.
And when a market stops forgiving, it matures.

Everything has already been written about this field. Truly.
About the meteoric rise, the hype, the investments, the crashes.
About the brands that disappeared and the ones that survived.
Anything I write here won’t really surprise those who live and breathe this industry.

And still I keep saying it. Again and again. Until it sinks in.

Food that isn’t tasty is food that doesn’t sell.
And if it’s also not healthy, then the entire market has a problem.

The Category Didn’t Decline, It Stopped Forgiving

In the early days of plant-based meat, consumers were willing to accept almost anything:
average texture, off-flavors, long ingredient lists, questionable nutritional values.

Why?
Because there was a story.
Because there was ideology.
Because it felt like the future.

But food, in the end, doesn’t eat ideology.
People eat food.

And the moment the culinary experience fails the plate test, no story can save it.
That’s the moment the market woke up.

What Has Actually Changed in the Plant-Based Meat Market

The discussion is no longer just about whether it “resembles meat.”
It has shifted to much deeper questions:

·       Is it tasty even without comparison?

·       Is it a product you can eat two or three times a week?

·       Are the nutritional values genuinely better?

·       And is a chef willing to put their name on it?

This is the real transition, from a marketing trend to a true food product.

Green Packaging and the Black Truth

And here comes one of the most honest moments in this industry.

Look at the packaging.
Almost all plant-based meat products are wrapped in green.
Green for nature.
Green for sustainability.
Green for health.

But the moment you turn the package around, the green disappears.

In its place appears black.
Black text.
Dense text.
A long ingredient list.

And suddenly, the eyes see a very simple truth:
A real beef burger usually contains two ingredients: meat and salt.
A “green” burger, marketed as healthy and progressive, often contains 15 ingredients or more.

So you decide, what color should really be on the package?

I’ll say this honestly: if it were truly delicious, maybe I’d forgive the 15 ingredients.
Maybe.
But when it’s neither tasty enough nor genuinely healthier, the gap becomes impossible to ignore.

And some of those ingredients?
Sometimes they’re not there for the consumer at all,
but to confuse the R&D departments of competing companies.
Just kidding (or maybe not).

Why the Institutional Market Is the Real Benchmark

Everyone talks about supermarket shelves.
I look first at the institutional market.

Catering companies, hospitals, institutions, airlines, there’s no room for stories there.
Either the product works, or it disappears.

And quietly, that’s where the real change is happening.

 A Story from the Field: A Real Production Pilot

Last week, at Gruda, we completed a production pilot for the institutional market, in Germany.
A large catering company approached us with a simple but challenging request:

A 100%plant-based burger, truly tasty and healthier.

The sentence that sealed the project was simple:
“I don’t want an off-the-shelf product. It doesn’t meet my standards.”

This was a ten-month project.
Not ten weeks.

Ten months of food product development.
Ten months of working on texture, flavor, nutritional values.
Ten months of building a small, precise, smart production line.

Not a showcase factory.
A small, sexy line.
100% tailored to the product.

And the result?

A plant-based burger that is first and foremost food.
Ideology comes second.

Food Product Development Starts with Taste

This may be the simplest truth, and the most forgotten one.

Product development doesn’t start in Excel.
It starts in the mouth.

If taste doesn’t work, no technology will save it.
And when taste does work, everything else can be built around it:
health, sustainability, cost, scalability.

At Gruda, we combine food technologists, chefs, flavorists,
and advanced R&D laboratories,
because only this integration creates products that actually work.

Health Is Not a Label. It’s a Responsibility

“Plant-based” does not automatically mean “healthy.”

Health is the result of decisions:
Which protein?
Which fat?
How much sodium?
What happens to the product after processing and reheating?

And it takes courage to say the truth:
Not every plant-based product deserves to be on the shelf.

The Next Stage: Meala’s Protein

In the next phase, the formulation will include Meala’s protein.
And this isn’t just another ingredient, it’s a shift in mindset.

A clean flavor profile.
Different functionality.
The ability to build texture without overloading the formula.

I’ll admit — I have the privilege of using Meala’s protein.
After all, I’m one of the founders.
Call it favoritism if you want.

But this is where the rules of the game truly begin to change.‍

Chefs Are Already There

Chefs, especially in institutional kitchens, already understand:
You can’t sell compromise.

Either you doit differently,
or the market resets itself.

‍

I’m not writing this as theory.
I’m writing this as a chef
who lives food product development every single day.

Plant-based meat is not dead.
It simply stopped being an excuse.

And now it demands real professionalism.

For those willing to work hard, there is a real future here.