Vegan Christmas food pre-orders up 700% at Waitrose

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Mohsina Dodhiya18th December 202018th December 2020Food, News

“We anticipate this Christmas will be the biggest ever for vegan food.”

This year, with one in five Britons planning to serve an entirely vegan Christmas dinner, the festive food shopping scenario at supermarkets is seeing new trends emerging.

According to Applewood’s October survey, almost half of the UK population will cater for at least one vegan this Christmas and 39% said this is the first Christmas they will consider vegan options.

Since most people consume more cheese during the festive season than any other time of the year, 74% of respondents also said they would be ‘looking at plant-based alternatives to cheese’, this Christmas.

Vegan trend at supermarkets

With these figures indicating a growing trend towards meat-free celebrations, supermarkets are also seeing a whopping surge in the demand and sale of vegan Christmas food.

Waitrose has reported a whopping 700% increase in vegan pre-orders compared to last year, and searches for ‘vegan cheese’ on its website are also up by 76%.

Tesco, which rolled out ten plant-based offerings compared to six last year has already indicated that its “no turkey roast crown” from the Wicked Kitchen brand has sold out online.

Morrisons has unveiled a whole range of vegan-friendly items in its run up to Christmas this year including starters, mains, desserts and more. After launching its limited-edition vegan Gingerbread Doughnuts for the festive season, the supermarket’s new meat-free Christmas treats include no-pigs in blankets, no-prawn tempura and no-duck spring rolls.

Meanwhile, upmarket retailer Marks & Spencer has launched an elaborate Vegan Christmas Food Gift Bag full of irresistible festive vegan treats from the brand’s Plant Kitchen range.

‘Biggest ever’

“We anticipate this Christmas will be the biggest ever for vegan food,” Vegan buyer at Waitrose, Charlotte McCarthy said.

“We’ve worked really hard to ensure that there is an exciting range available for our customers that is delicious, whether they follow a vegan diet or not.”