This study investigated recent trends in the vegetarian food market in the UK. Over the past five years, the market for vegetarian food has increased, especially in the frozen foods sector. Vegetarianism has also been increasing slowly. The authors predicted sales of vegetarian foods to continue to increase over the next five years.

Excerpt from Executive Summary:

“According to Key Note, the market for vegetarian foods reached a value of £786.5m in the year ending January 2011, up 7.7% from £730.4m in the year ending January 2007.”

“Vegetarianism has continued to increase at a slow rate in the UK over the past few years, with around 6% of the population (3.8 million people) revealing that they were mainly vegetarian in 2011, i.e. they ate fish but not meat; while 3% of people were estimated to be completely vegetarian, i.e. they did not eat fish or meat.”

“These factors are likely to continue to encourage consumers to consider a vegetarian diet, while the industry’s attempts at making vegetarian food more appetising to general consumers, such as omnivores, should continue to drive sales over the next few years. Key Note therefore estimates a 10.3% increase in sales of vegetarian foods over the next 5 years, with market value rising from £799.7m in 2012 to £882.4m in 2016.”