The discount giant Lidl has been expanding its vegan range for a long time and now also successfully offers vegetable meat alternatives under its new private label Next Level Meat. After the vegan “Next Level Burger“, Lidl recently expanded its product line to include the Next Level mince, which is based on pea, wheat and soy protein.
We spoke to Jan Bock, Purchasing Manager at Lidl Germany, to learn more about the vegan private label and the company’s latest promotions.
How is the Next Level Burger selling? Is it only sold in urban environments or also in the countryside?
The sale of the Next Level Burger got off to a very good start. We are very satisfied with the customer response. Especially in big cities like Berlin or Munich, for example, the Next Level Burger has met with great interest.
Lidl has its own customers develop vegan products, what is behind this idea?
With the vegan workshop, we focus on the wishes of our customers in an innovative way. With the online campaign, every customer could design his favourite product from a concrete meat substitute to vegan dairy products to a ready meal frozen pizza, then apply for a workshop in October with influencers and experts. The aim is to discuss and jointly work out which vegan products could be included in the Lidl range as promotional items in the course of 2020.
In the past, we have had very good experiences with campaigns that actively involve customers. The development of the Lidl fan pizza, which is also vegan, was so well received, for example, that we have included it in our range on a permanent basis.
Will you focus more on vegan private labels in the future?
When designing our product range, we always focus on customer wishes and take up nutritional trends and product innovations in order to continuously improve our range. Under our own brand My Best Veggie we have been offering various vegan products such as tofu for years. As the vegan market is becoming increasingly important, it was a matter of course for us to expand our range to include plant-based products under our new “Next Level Meat” brand.
Lidl plans to continue offering more vegan foods in its range or as a special offer in the future. The decisive factor for this will be customer feedback.
