The past two years have seen a number of popular food producers cut back their ranges of alternative protein products, such as vegetarian sausages or burgers. Nestle and Yorkshire-based Heck announced last year that they would cut down on their meat-free ranges, citing a lack of sales. US-based Beyond Meat also cut its revenue forecast last year after its sales dropped by almost a third.
He said: “There were probably too many brands, as well as too much investment and too much new product development. I think what we’re finding now is that the supermarkets are cutting the long tail, so in other words, there were new products developed that just haven't been selling very well, that maybe weren't good enough.