Transforming its products, platform and performance to reshape the food system

AMSTERDAM, 15th May 2023: Upfield, a global leader in plant-based food, has released its 2022 Financial & ESG Summary today, outlining its purpose-driven performance and latest results.

The company, which markets its products in over 90 countries, makes four key categories of product – Plant Butters and Spreads, Plant Creams, Liquids and Plant Cheeses. Upfield said its international portfolio, which includes power brands such as Flora, Becel/ProActiv, Rama, Country Crock, Blue Band and Violife, reached an additional 100 million people last year, reaching a total of 305 million people.

Upfield said it is poised for further growth as its global Total Addressable Market – which incorporates both plant-based and dairy versions of its categories – is vast, estimated at over €150bn¹, and continuing to grow.

The future of food

Upfield has invested to transform and future-proof its products, processes and platforms since it was set up in 2018. It now combines the strength of its iconic power brands with investment in a brand new, state-of-the-art Food Science Centre in Wageningen, The Netherlands, where its technologists work to simplify recipes using all-natural ingredients and to create the plant-based foods of the future. It has also secured strategic partnerships with, for example, Change Foods, OGGS® and Alfreds.

“The transformative work on our products and our transition to natural, simple, clean labels has created a fresh portfolio that is delivering growth,” said Upfield’s Chief Executive Officer David Haines as the 2022 Financial & ESG Summary was published, highlighting that around 85% of European sales in 2022 were generated by products that have been the fruit of innovation, reformulation or renovation.

“Today, we can fully focus our energy on delivering our purposeful growth strategy. We are confident we can now unleash the vast potential of our businesses, categories, brands and platform,” Mr Haines added.

Committed to ESG

As plant-based diets continue to surge in popularity, with plant-based food sales growing three times faster than total food sales in 2021², the demand for healthier, tastier and more sustainable alternatives to dairy continues to increase.

Today, one in four people across the world define themselves as flexitarian³ and more than half of Generation Z say they are seeking to reduce the amount of meat and dairy in their diets⁴.

Upfield’s first integrated ESG and financial summary underlines the real-world impact of the company’s commitments to plant-based diets, supporting healthier lives, happier people and a better planet.

Plant-based

Upfield aims to reach one billion people with its plant-based products by 2030 and has focused on ensuring recipes use simple, all natural ingredients. Already, 99% of its ingredients by weight are natural. Its familiar, much-loved brands have been transformed to create products that are specific to the tastes and demands of different markets, but that taste and perform just like diary. Its Flora Plant B+tter, for example, one of its power brands, has been simplified to contain just six ingredients⁵.

Healthier lives

Health is a high priority for consumers and a key reason why people choose Upfield products. In 2022, Upfield launched a nutritional benchmarking programme, ensuring that 95% of its plant butters and spreads had better performance against saturated fat than dairy equivalents⁶.

In the last year, Upfield has reached over 26 million people with its healthy products and nutritional education. As part of its long-term strategy, Upfield’s goal is to positively impact 200 million lives with access to affordable and healthy nutrition.

Happier people

Upfield is committed to making lives better, from a focus on gender diversity and employee engagement through to partnerships across value chains with farmers, chefs and plant-based entrepreneurs. The number of women in management positions at Upfield has steadily risen from 40% in 2020 to 43% in 2022, on track to reach its goal of a 50/50 split by 2030. Upfield also launched a global mentoring programme, running more than 14 global engagement campaigns which covered everything from Veganuary and Wellness Week to Pride across the year.

The company established a series of supply chain partnerships over the past 12 months, reaching an estimated 10,000 farmers and their families, enabling them to improve agricultural practices and access to markets and empower farmers.

Better planet

The company, committed to Science-based climate targets, was the first food company to disclose its methane emissions. In 2022 it achieved a 26% reduction in methane from a year earlier, as part of a wider reductions in carbon emissions. Upfield’s Plant Butters and Spreads, already deliver a 70%^[1] lower climate impact, using 50% less water and 66%^[2] less land than dairy equivalents. Continuing to communicate to consumers about the impact of its products – through on-pack carbon labelling, is helping to encourage the consumer shift away from animal-based products towards plant-based products.

Upfield is also maintaining its commitment to protect nature and eliminate deforestation, with responsible sourcing policies and programmes including the certification of high-risk ingredients, traceability and satellite monitoring. The company continues to innovate with lower-plastic and plastic-free formats for its packaging, including a pot for its plant creams which combines a layer of paper with a thinner plastic, saving more than 600 tons of plastic for this single range in 2022 alone.

To learn how you can support a better plant-based future, visit Upfield.com or follow @UpfieldGlobal on Instagram and Twitter.

1. Total global addressable market (dairy and plant-based) in retail and foodservice (sales out to consumers, retail sales value for the retail channel) based on EUROMONITOR, KANTAR, NIELSEN, BAIN analysis
2 .Source: Euromonitor Health and Nutrition 2020, fielded February 2020 (n=21,739) https://go.euromonitor.com/rs/805-KOK-719/images/Rise_Vegan_Vegetarian_Food.pdf
3 .Insites Consulting survey of 11,990 consumers across 10 countries, published April 2022: Global consumer survey: Flexitarians are the driving force behind plant-based foods (foodtechbiz.com)
4. Source: Euromonitor Health and Nutrition 2020, fielded February 2020 (n= 21,739) https://go.euromonitor.com/rs/805-KOK-719/images/Rise_Vegan_Vegetarian_Food.pdf
5. Source: Ingredients list for Flora Plant Butter today when compared with the ingredients list from a sample spreads product in 2018.
6. Core products that meet or exceed benchmarks on saturated fat. Includes Plant Butters and Spreads and Liquids in Europe and North America.
[1] https://upfield.com/purpose/better-planet/climate-action/
[2] Based on Upfield’s margarines and spreads when compared on a weighted average basis with dairy butter across North America and Europe. ISO compliant life cycle assessment conducted by Quantis Consulting published in the International Journal of Lifecycle Assessment. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-019-01703-w