Happy Little Plants now offers its vegan ground meat at Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets. The vegan meat brand is owned by Spam producer Hormel Foods.
Plant-Based Ground Protein is available from plant-based meat sections in all 74 Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets in America’s Midwest. The dedicated vegan counters are to aid customers in locating and exploring plant-based alternatives.
“We know that people are looking to add more plant-based options to their diets,” said Robbie Koons, Happy Little Plants brand manager, in a press release. “We’re glad to partner with Fresh Thyme to make it easier for people to find it in their stores.”
“We’ve continued to see our customers looking for a simple and convenient way to find the plant-based alternative products,” said Jason Resner, vice president of Meat & Seafood at Fresh Thyme. “We are excited to be one of the few retailers in our category to offer a dedicated area to locate products like Happy Little Plants.”
Happy Little Plants’ Plant-Based Ground Protein contains 20 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber per serving. It contains no preservatives, no cholesterol, is low in saturated fat, and made with non-GMO ingredients. It is naturally gluten-free, low-calorie, low sodium, and contains no added sugar. The brand says it plans to launch further new products in the coming months.
Vegan Meat Counters
Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is not the only supermarket chain exploring vegan butcher counters. In 2019, the upscale California supermarket chain Bristol Farms became the first in the country to launch a vegan meat counter. Unpackaged vegan meat is sold from behind a deli case in the butcher section of Yorba Linda’s Bristol Farms store.
In the UK, Sainsbury’s launched a meat-free, pop-up butcher’s counter last year. The Bethnal Green Road branch served products such as sausages, pulled jackfruit, Meatless Farm mince, vegan steaks, and bacon.
Conversely, some supermarkets are closing down traditional meat counters due to lack of demand. Tesco is shutting down many of its meat counters, which could affect up to 732 of the chain’s larger stores. Asda, the second-largest supermarket chain in the UK, is shutting all of its meat and fish counters to make way for ready-to-eat food sections—complete with vegan options.
