Not too long ago if you wanted any kind of food revolving around vegan or non-dairy products your only option was the health food store. Nowadays most cafes and food stores from the trendy to franchise are offering customers non-dairy alternatives and vegan products. The global dairy alternative market is big and only getting bigger. The rapid growth of its profitability has gotten the attention of those in the food industry and should be getting the attention of you as well.
So this month, we are going to focus on vegan and non-dairy products and why they should be part of your menu.
Before we dive in, let's first talk about some statistics.
Out of the 328 million people in America, 2-6% of them consider themselves vegetarian and the number is rising every year. Some of these are health conscious individuals who want to lead a healthier life, some are environmentally conscious taking concern for the animals and for some it's not a choice or option but merely a fact because of a health reason such as lactose intolerance or allergen.
The flavors and quality of dairy alternatives have changed quite a bit over the years. Some non-diary alternatives to cow produced milk include oat milk, soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and coconut milk. So anyone of these choices, if not all, are a nice alternative to anyone who cannot have dairy or considers themselves vegetarian. Since the taste of food is mainly subjective, in your case, ice cream, it's nice to offer these options to your customer. Not only are these nice alternatives to vegans and those who cannot have dairy, but it opens up a door to another huge customer base as well. The health conscious.
When people see you advertising non-dairy product or vegan friendly, they associate that to the healthier option, and we know diets are a big thing for people in the USA. In fact, someone you know is probably on a diet, tried a diet or is at least watching what they eat. Those people who are not purely dedicated to the diet may not need an excuse to cheat a little bit. But those that are pretty dedicated to the diet may just need a little push to cheat. Having a vegan option or non-dairy option at your store will give them that little push over the edge to have a scoop - since they are more inclined to think of it as a healthy snack.
Another reason to consider non-dairy items in your frozen dessert store is because it can help you push other products and bring in additional customers as well. Let's say you have a group of five people that want to go out and get a treat and one of them cannot have dairy. Well by offering a dairy alternative, you're bringing the other four additional bodies into the store just because that one can't have dairy and they wanted to have the treat together. You just added four more sales to what might've been none. Now consider the alternative of not offering non-dairy product. Those five people would not have come to your store. by offering this it not just convenience to your customer but adds to the overall experience to everyone in that group or family.
To add vegan products or a non-dairy line up to your store will not require a huge investment. In fact if you're making your own products already then you can easily switch over to or incorporate the non-dairy / vegan options into your store. If you want to see a demonstration video on how to make a vegan product with one of our batch freezers, then click on the thumbnail.
