Why are Europeans eating more plant-based meat than Americans? It’s not why you think

If you walk into a grocery store in the Netherlands or Germany, you might not realize you’re being steered toward plant-based protein, from vegan tortellini to plant-based yogurt. But across Europe and the UK, major retailers are quietly driving that shift. And they’re seeing results at a time when plant-based sales are struggling in the US.

Lidl, a budget supermarket, grew UK sales of its private-label plant-based line by nearly 700% from 2020 to 2025. In Germany, France, and Italy, plant-based retail sales are growing across multiple categories, with most of that growth coming from supermarkets’ own brands.

Lidl is one of several retailers with a deliberate strategy to nudge consumers away from meat and dairy and toward plant-based food. In the Netherlands, major supermarkets now have an ambitious target: by 2030, they’re aiming for plant-based protein sales to outweigh animal-based food, in a 60-40 split.

Climate is the biggest motivation. As grocery stores look at their own carbon footprints—driven by policies like the EU’s climate reporting rules—nearly all of the impact comes from food production in their supply chains. And nearly half of those emissions come from meat and dairy.

“It’s huge—this is the biggest lever for a retailer in terms of reducing the climate impact,” says Joanna Trewern, director of partnerships at ProVeg International, a Berlin-based nonprofit that advocates for grocery stores to prioritize plant-based protein.

In the Netherlands, where stores have gone farthest to adopt new strategies, the organization co-founded a working group that helped retailers plan the transition. The Dutch government also issued a policy paper saying that the population was consuming more protein from animal sources than they should for a healthy diet—the opposite of the new dietary guidelines in the U.S.   

Stores have taken several steps to boost plant-based sales. First, since the cost of plant-based alternatives is still a barrier, they’ve built up their own low-cost, private-label offerings. “A core element of our strategy is ensuring that plant‑based foods are just as affordable as animal‑based alternatives,” a spokesperson for Lidl Netherlands told Fast Company. “At Lidl, the prices of our plant‑based staple items are already equal to or even lower than their animal‑based counterparts. This price parity ensures that cost is never a barrier for customers who want to make a more sustainable choice.”

Lower costs are critical for plant-based protein to grow, and private label products offer the biggest opportunity, Trewern says. “Retailers have more control over ingredient sourcing, it’s easiest for them to scale, and there’s more they can do in terms of price and investing in categories to bring the price down for the consumer,” she says.

As plant-based sales have grown, Lidl keeps adding more products to its range. That includes more traditional plant-based protein, like tofu or chickpea-based products. “The initial innovation in this space was very focused on convenience—products that really mimic meat,” says Trewern. “Now what we’re seeing is consumers are looking for something else. That’s led a lot of people to say plant-based is not doing well, the category’s failing. Actually, what we’re seeing now in many European countries is they’re starting to come back and the category is consolidating with a different type of product. More clean-label, whole-food product sales are going up massively.” (Sales of tofu and tempeh are also growing in the U.S., though in both locations, they’re still a small fraction of overall plant-based meat.)

Some stores are also offering new hybrid products. Lidl was the first to start selling a partly plant-based burger—60% beef, 40% pea protein—that tastes like beef but is priced lower than its regular ground beef and has a much lower carbon footprint. The store has also cut back on promotions on meat; twice a year, it makes sure its promotional flyers are meat-free and feature plant-based products instead. It’s also tested other strategies, like placing vegan meat next to animal-based products in the meat aisle.

Partnerships with other brands can also help. The French retailer Carrefour worked with manufacturers like Danone and Unilever to bring new plant-based products to market, and met its original sales target seven years ahead of schedule. “Real behavior change happens when retailers and manufacturers work together to deliver products people love that reach price and taste parity with conventional options,” says Abby Sewell, corporate engagement manager at the Good Food Institute, an American nonprofit focused on the industry.

The work can’t guarantee on its own that plant-based protein sales always grow—country-wide sales dipped in the Netherlands in 2024, for example, while some other markets expanded. But it’s a useful tool. In the U.S., supermarkets don’t yet have similar goals and strategies. And the growth of private-label brands offers more evidence that price is key.

There’s still a large opportunity for more affordable, better-tasting products; almost three-quarters of American consumers are open to eating more plant-based food. “U.S. consumers say the most important factors that would make them more willing to eat plant-based meat are if it tasted better and was more affordable,” says Jody Kirchner, associate director of market insights at the Good Food Institute. “This is an opportunity for the plant-based meat industry to continue to evolve and position itself for the next wave of growth.” 

“We’ve seen this before with electric cars and solar panels—early hype, a dip, then a return to growth,” Kirchner adds. “With the right investment and innovation, plant-based meat can find that same curve.”