Nestlé expands new coffee and vegan food products

Nestlé Portugal is to branch out into new coffee and vegan products in Portugal from this year according to the company.

It is launching 446 new products, while the products it has launched over the past 36 months alone represent 11% of its total business.
Around 76% of the new products focus on a specific area in the Healthy, All Natural and Sustainable, Organic/Bio, and Premium segments.
The company is going in for plant-based options, but these will be particularly relevant in two distinct business areas: coffee and a new portfolio of plant-based products, ‘Garden Gourmet’.
The reason why the company is opting for these areas has to do with the growing number of vegetarians in Portugal. According to the company, around half a million people in the country are vegetarians or a combination of vegetarians, flexitarians (eat meat but tend to give priority to vegetables), and vegans.
In an interview with the online news source ECO, Andreia Vaz says that flexitarians are continuing to grow in number year-on-year and now represent some 9.3% of the Portuguese population and points out that this branch has grown 27% over the past two years.
These numbers reflect the need to “have an offer in the market that allows people to choose different options that are healthy and sustainable”, says Nestlé’s Iberian director.
Portugal is one of four test markets in Europe, the others being the UK, France and Holland. The managing director of Nestlé Portugal, Paolo Fagnoni says: “Portugal has a huge market in coffee and its Premium segment related to innovation in the coffee business has grown 21% on 2021”.
The growth of coffee in capsules and lots (packets) is down to offer consolidation through its range of Nespresso cafés, the Portuguese brand Buondi and Starbuck varieties, as well as the launch of breakfast blends Blond/Lugo for Nespresso systems, but vegetable alternatives for lattes have also done well.