The REWE Group was one of the big winners at the PETA Vegan Food Awards 2021. Thanks to its extensive selection of vegan alternatives, REWE triumphed as the “Most vegan-friendly su-permarket”. PENNY’s own brand “Food for Future” range of vegan products came out on top in the “Best own brand” category. This dual success further bolsters the REWE Group’s strategic goal of keeping pace with the rapidly growing trend for vegan food and offering customers the product ranges to meet that demand. Between 2019 and 2020, the production of vegan foods increased from around 60,000 tons to around 84,000 tons, with sales topping 1.2 billion euros.
As a food retailer, we recognise the challenges posed by sustainability and understand our re-sponsibility. We would like to make a positive contribution through the products we offer. We therefore consider the promotion of a vegan diet to be important in the overall protection of ani-mals, the environment and the climate. Furthermore, REWE gives new and established brands a platform to sell the latest exciting products and therefore plays an important role by bringing in-novative vegan foods to the market,
explains Daniel Kniel, General Manager for full-range pro-duce at the REWE Group.
The PETA Vegan Food Award was established relatively recently but the speed of its growth is testament to the importance of vegan foods today. I am therefore delighted that our Food for Future has won the ‘Best own brand’ category for vegan products. Since it was launched some eight months ago, we have seen demand increase by up to 100 per cent, far exceeding our ex-pectations,
says Philipp Stiehler, General Manager for Discount Produce at the REWE Group.
In its full-range stores, REWE stocks various speciality vegan brands alongside its own-brand products. Depending on store size, the number of vegan alternatives available may exceed 1,000 different products. REWE is therefore making a plant-based diet easy and exciting. And because the customer’s desire for sustainable vegan products is increasing, REWE plans to con-tinually expand its vegan ranges.
In May, REWE also launched its new organic own brand “REWE Bio +vegan”. All of the products are certified as organic and meet the highest environmental and climate protection standards, which is what makes them so special. This is why many PRO PLANET products are labelled “Für mehr Klimaschutz”, indicating that they promote climate protection, so that customers can see at a glance that they are particularly environmentally friendly. In 2021, some 30 “REWE Bio +vegan” products were launched across all product categories, including cream cheese and mozzarella, coconut yoghurt, oat milk, remoulade and tofu products, with further products being continually added to the range.
Last September, PENNY became the first food retailer in Germany to develop an own brand vegan range across all of its product categories with its Food for Future offering. The first prod-ucts to be introduced were vegan mince and vegan burgers made from pea protein. The range is being gradually expanded to include new products such as vegan chocolate and muffins. PENNY customers can also look forward to trying a number of regularly changing promotions, including vegan pizzas, mini schnitzels, pea milk and ice cream.
