PRESS RELEASE: To the delight of hungry herbivores around the country, ASDA has announced a partnership with vegan concept creator, Kbox Global, to trial a supermarket vegan butcher counter – Veelicious.
Situated at ASDA’s Watford store, the counter will open in the New Year as a six month trial to coincide with Veganuary and will have a consistent vegan butcher offering – including facon, bean burgers, and meat-free meatballs.
The launch of ‘Veelicious’ comes as plant-based eating continues to grow in popularity. Having won Vegan Retailer of the Year at the 2020 Q Awards, ASDA has seen an increase in online searches for ‘vegan’ on asda.com 175% YOY and simultaneously is forecasting vegan sales in January to increase +391% YOY.
With 22.1 million (34%)* of the UK population cutting down on meat and trying out flexitarianism, vegan products are becoming increasingly integrated in Brits’ lives. The new Veelicious offering is making it easier than ever before for this growing customer segment to have access to high quality and flavoursome vegan foods.
With prices starting from 75p, Veelicious will serve a range of meat-free alternatives such as mock lamb and vegan ‘black pudding’, as well as a small selection of vegan cheeses, ready-to-eat meal kits and vegan staples, such as chutneys and base cooking sauces.
In addition to the one-store vegan butcher trial, this Veganuary ASDA has added 22 new meat-free alternatives to its Plant Based range.
Preyash Thakrar, Asda’s Chief Strategy Officer, comments: “The demand for vegan products is on the rise and we have seen a surge in people seeking out ways to easily enjoy a plant-based lifestyle. We recognised the importance of helping our customers with their Veganuary journey, which includes partnering with Kbox to trial Veelicious in our Watford store.
“Across our product range we offer many options for vegans and flexitarians, such as meat-free alternatives and vegan cheeses, ensuring that our customers don’t have to compromise on quality, taste or value when following a plant-based lifestyle. Veelicious will be a ‘test and learn’ trial to help us understand what resonates with customers to enable us to enhance our plant-based proposition.”
Salima Vellani, founder and CEO of Kbox Global, said: “Our partnership with Asda to launch the UK’s first vegan butcher is an exciting joint venture that recognises growing demand for plant-based brands, from meat eaters and vegans alike.
“Veganism is now a mainstream, healthy and environmentally sustainable way for anyone to eat. We are pleased to be working with one of the country’s leading supermarkets to give consumers more of what they are asking for.”
