DELFT, NETHERLANDS — IKEA is prioritizing plant-based innovation in both its packaged foods and restaurant offerings, the retailer said in connection with a pre-event for the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021.
By 2025, 50% of the main meals IKEA offers in its restaurants will be plant-based, and 80% will be non-red meat, the company said. Additionally, 80% of all IKEA’s packaged foods will be plant-based.
“IKEA wants to make healthy and sustainable choices the most desirable option, by for example demonstrating that plant-based food can be really delicious,” said Lena Pripp-Kovac, chief sustainability officer at IKEA operator Inter IKEA Group. “Research confirms the importance of making sustainable products affordable and desirable, and IKEA can really make a positive difference here. The more sustainable choice shouldn’t be a luxury for the few. It should be part of people’s everyday life.”
The traditional meatball will stay on the menu, IKEA said, but the retailer has focused on developing more affordable plant-based options to challenge meat mainstays, including the veggie ball, chicken ball, veggie hot dog and salmon ball. The most recent example is the HUVUDROLL plant ball, made with pea protein, oats, potatoes, onion and apple. The product has 4% of the climate footprint of the traditional meatball, IKEA said.
“The more sustainable choice shouldn’t be a luxury for the few. It should be part of people’s everyday life.” — Lena Pripp-Kovac, Inter IKEA Group
“A truly sustainable food system must be based on delicious, nutritious and responsibly produced food,” said Peter van der Poel, managing director for IKEA of Sweden and manager of IKEA Range & Supply. “IKEA is taking a full value chain approach to contributing to sustainable food systems, from responsible sourcing of materials, reducing food waste along the value chain, circular and more sustainable packaging and using the IKEA reach to make healthy and sustainable food options available to as many people as possible.”
Additionally, by 2025, IKEA said that 80% of all main meals offered in its restaurants will fulfill the IKEA Balanced Meal Norm, which is a science-based nutrition assessment framework used in product development to improve the nutritional quality of meals and snacks in IKEA food. The Balanced Meal Norm means that meals meet requirements IKEA has set to manage the content of calories, saturated fats, sugars, salt and fiber in the meals.
IKEA plans to roll out more plant-based and healthier food options in a phased approach in IKEA restaurants and Swedish Food Markets.