Plant-based products now account for 13% of all new product development activity tracked by Point74, up from 11% in 2025, as the Midlands-based food tech firm reports a fresh surge in vegan innovation across its manufacturer customer base.

The company, which provides new product development software used by food and drink manufacturers, found that two-thirds of its customers had developed at least one vegan product this year.

Four clients had designated more than a fifth of their entire development pipeline as vegan suitable, while customers with large vegan portfolios saw plant-based development increase by an average of 5% on the previous year.

A shift in the pipeline

Rob Sinclair, CEO of Point74.

Rob Sinclair, CEO at Point74, said the data reflects a deliberate industry move rather than a passing trend.

“What our data shows is that manufacturers made a strategic commitment to vegan product development and this is now showing up clearly in the pipeline,” he said.

“While previous years had shown a plateauing in plant-based products, it is now gaining momentum once more in the food and drink sector, with consumers seeking them out in supermarkets across the country.”

Sinclair pointed to a mix of motivations behind the renewed demand. “Whether it’s people looking for more environmentally friendly produce, or those seeking a healthier option, this shift reflects a wider change in what consumers want from their food.”

Shelves catching up with software

The development data lines up with retail trends already visible on supermarket shelves. UK supermarkets saw chilled plant-based food sales rise by 1% last year, with growth accelerating to 1.7% in the final 12 weeks of 2025. Tesco reported plant-based mince sales up nearly 25%, alongside a 12% rise in plant-based proteins including tofu, tempeh and seitan.

Point74 expects manufacturers’ pipeline activity to continue feeding through to retail over the next 12 to 24 months, with shelves reflecting the shift already under way in development. Its customer base spans meat, snacking, bakery and prepared food categories, and includes Morrisons, Waitrose, Costa and Charlie Binghams.

Managing the complexity of compliance

Point74, which recently acquired Quor Systems, offers an end-to-end product lifecycle management platform giving manufacturers a centralised view of ingredients, compliance requirements and product specifications. Its software manages more than 50,000 ingredient specifications and supports the launch of more than 4,000 products annually across the sector.

Sinclair said the operational side of vegan development is where manufacturers are increasingly investing effort. “Getting vegan product development right is not always straightforward with ingredient substitutions, compliance requirements, labelling obligations and allergens all needing to be considered.

“The manufacturers doing this well are the ones who have the right systems to manage that complexity without slowing down their development process. As a result, they are best placed to capitalise on growing demand for plant-based products.”

Core to the pipeline

The picture Point74 paints is one of plant-based development moving from experimentation to embedded strategy, with a sizeable minority of manufacturers now treating vegan ranges as a core part of their pipeline rather than a peripheral one. The uptick from 11% to 13% is incremental on its own, but set against retail data showing accelerating chilled plant-based sales, it points to a sector re-committing after a period of plateau. The operational framing from Sinclair — compliance, labelling, allergens — also signals where the real competitive advantage is likely to sit: not in whether manufacturers develop vegan products, but in how efficiently they can manage the complexity of doing so at scale.