How much it costs to go plant-based in South Africa – Woolworths vs Pick n Pay vs Checkers

Major retailers are planning to bring more meat alternative products to shoppers in South Africa, hoping to capture an even bigger stake in the blooming plant-based market.

When it comes to moving on from meat, however, price is always a factor, with plant-based proteins, in particular, having a reputation for being costly.

The plant-based market is set to grow substantially in the next few years, with Bloomberg predicting that the market will grow from $30 Billion in 2021 to $160 Billion in 2030.

Veganism is expected to grow further in this time as customers become more environmentally conscious and health aware.

Pick n Pay customer research has also shown a new type of diet emerging – the flexitarian diet, where people eat more plant-based meals during the week.

Nicki Russell, Head of Product & Technical at Pick n Pay, says that customers who abide by the Flexitarian diet are fuelling the growth of the plant-based category as they are willing to try alternatives.

However, Russell also says that the plant-based category still only makes up a small percentage of sales and that the company wants to make plant-based products more affordable and convenient for customers.

Going green

To determine the cost of switching to plant-based alternatives, BusinessTech looked at a basket of items from Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Checkers, made some plant-based changes, and looked at the price difference between the original and alternative meal types.

The basket took five animal protein items and replaced them with plant-based protein sources, while three dairy-free replacements were also included. Items such as fruit and vegetables were excluded, as this list exclusively deals with plant-based alternatives.

Moreover, each plant-based alternative had to be available at all three grocery stores to ensure a fair comparison – Pick n Pay and Checkers both stock Fry’s, meaning that their results are pretty similar. Woolworths stocked its own-brand alternatives.

Looking at the basket results, Woolworths shoppers would typically experience a price decrease when switching from meat protein to plant-based protein. However, it should be noted that Woolworths’ meat section is far more expensive than the other retailers, which affects the overall comparison.

Despite the cost of plant-based alternatives remaining quite consistent between all three grocery stores, Pick n Pay and Checkers customers would still pay more when switching to plant-based proteins.

One thing to note is that serving sizes for the plant-based proteins chosen are usually smaller than their meat counterparts as they are generally sold in smaller portions. Portions were selected regarding how close they were to one another.

The basket is priced per item – and not scaled up to match specific grams. The thinking is that this is what an individual would have to purchase if they were to shop for the specific items.

For instance, Woolworths’ ordinary free-range (F-R) beef burgers are 680g, while their alternative Plant-Powered Protein (PPP) burger patties are only 320g, but both products contain four burger patties.

The prices for switching to plant-based proteins are found below:

Woolworths

Pick n Pay

Checkers 

(All prices were captured on the retailers’ respective websites)

Read: New standards for raw meat products in South Africa, including the difference between a ‘value’ and ‘economy’ burger