Anyone wanting to pick out a burger at Lidl will soon be able to choose the vegetarian variant in one hand movement. The discounter will put the four best-selling meat substitutes right next to the meat in the refrigerator.
This should entice customers to choose plant-based food more often, including those who normally pass by the veg shelf.
Not all meat substitutes will be next to meat. Initially, it is about vegan minced beef, vegetarian chicken pieces, the vegan schnitzel and the veggie burger.
“Our aim is for our customers to see how easy and tasty it is to eat no meat for a day once in a while and thus reduce our impact on the climate,” says Lidl’s Chantal Goenee. Moreover, consumers see at a glance that meat substitutes are cheaper than meat.
After three months, the discounter will check the effect of the new format. Wageningen University & Research is watching the experiment, which will run in 70 of the 440 stores. According to researcher Monique van der Meer, similar studies had a positive effect on sales of meat substitutes.
Lidl wants at least 50 per cent of proteins sold to be of plant origin by 2030. Currently, 38 per cent is plant-based and 62 per cent from animal proteins.
Lesley Woutersen, one of the co-founders of the EconomicInform gives away all of his free time to the project. He is interested in stock exchange and digital assets. Lesley can be reached by lesley.woutersen@economicinform.com.
