Kerry, the world’s leading taste and nutrition company, has developed and released a leading-edge Plant-based Dairy Alternative Toolkit designed to provide US plant-based manufacturers simple, scalable and sustainable solutions to accelerate product development.

The purpose of the toolkit is to help companies and startups differentiate from their competition in the plant-based dairy alternative category, which is an enormous market opportunity with emerging brands racing to innovate in items such as beverages, frozen desserts and vegan slices, among others.

Kerry’s toolkit includes: a research-based “building your brand” checklist, information on the top five development considerations, guides to help product developers create consumer-preferred taste experiences, and tips on formulating with exciting flavors that will build consumer loyalty and foster repeat purchasing.

It also features a series of videos by Kerry experts, such as flavorists, sensory scientists, dairy formulators, marketers, and sustainability champions, who provide science-backed insights on health-supporting ingredients that can make a product stand out.

Elizabeth Horvath, Vice President of Marketing at Kerry North America, commented on the toolkit’s release: “Emerging and innovative plant-based brands and products need straightforward expert assistance, a road map to scalability, and a focus on sustainability—which Kerry’s 2021 proprietary research says is important to 75% of consumers in this category. Kerry’s new Plant-based Dairy Alternative Toolkit provides an excellent jumpstart on that road to success. You own the brand identity, and Kerry is here to help in building the product’s market appeal through simple solutions and expert suggestions that are easy to implement, scalable and sustainable.”

The toolkit’s plant-based checklist provides a roadmap for developers to address questions on a wide range of topics: what are the desired flavors and texture of the new product? What about claims, nutrition, and local and international regulations? These and other queries are used by Kerry food scientists and applications experts to help customers meet the plant-based challenge by delivering clear, experienced assistance.

Horvath added: “With Kerry’s deep roster of highly experienced flavorists and product application experts and extensive ingredient portfolio, we can provide a wide range of taste solutions to improve creaminess and mouthfeel, neutralize off-notes, and balance sweetness to achieve an optimized flavor profile. Controlling undesired off-notes—from sweeteners, caffeine, bitterness and plant proteins, for instance—is an essential challenge to developing satisfying tastes in alternative dairy, and our experts can help in that process.

In plant-based dairy alternatives, taste is clearly the top purchase driver. According to proprietary Kerry research conducted in 2021, nine out of ten consumers purchase both dairy and plant-based items, making it critical for plant-based products to be, above all, delicious. However, building great taste in plant-based is about taking a holistic, layered approach that involves neutralizing the taste of the protein base, adding the desired dairy notes, building in characterizing flavors, and rounding out the taste to deliver the authentically creamy and rich dairy-like taste that consumers expect.

According to Horvath, “the key in plant-based dairy-alternative product development is combining superior ingredients in an experienced way in order to achieve the creamy and delicious taste people associate with such traditional dairy products as ice cream, yogurt and beverages. Kerry’s Plant-based Dairy Alternative Toolkit provides a fast track for emerging brands seeking to innovate, provide nutrition and deliver sustainable competitive benefits. Versatility and ease of use in application must be top of mind in approaching the plant-based revolution—a movement that has only just begun.”

The Kerry Plant-based Dairy Alternative Toolkit  is intended for download only in the US and can be accessed here. 

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