CHOCOLATIER company Nestlé has announced a batch of new offerings as the brand looks to bring more treats to a different market.
The Switzerland-based food giant continues its foray into the plant-based foods market with a new spin on chocolate chips.
The new Toll House plant-based chocolate morsels come in two flavors - dark chocolate and semi-sweet.
In an Instagram post, the company said the new products: "Are the perfect substitute to the original that we all know and love."
The new morsels feature 100 percent real chocolate without milk.
Instead, the semi-sweet chocolate chips feature cocoa butter, whole-grain oat flour, and soy lecithin.
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The dark chocolate alternative has cocoa butter and whole-grain oat flour.
Nestlé's plant-based alternatives have the same amount of calories as their dairy mix chocolates.
The plant-based chocolates have one gram less sugar each.
Nestlé's announced the new alternatives despite cooling optimism around the vegan foods market.
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WHATS HAPPENING WITH VEGAN FOODS?
Vegan foods, untethered to ethical quandaries of animal rights or carbon footprint booms, saw rising popularity in 2020.
Popular meat alternative brands picked up steam - namely Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and Nestlé's Sweet Earth brands.
But consumer interest has cooled down on the hot product, as customers looked to cut grocery costs in an inflationary market.
Nestlé executives argue the cooling market is just a blip, and they believe introducing more vegan options is a sound strategy.
"Even as we start to talk about, ‘Is plant based tamped down,’ there’s still significant awareness, significant desire, and again, listening to the consumer, they’re still telling us that’s where they want to go," Mel Cash, Nestlé's chief marketing and innovation officer, told Food Dive.
"We need to be there."
Nestlé did not immediately respond to a request for comment in this article.
As Nestlé continues to develop its plant-based market, food producers and grocery stores continue to adjust to new updates.
GROCERY STORE UPDATES
The grocery market braced for a number of shake ups in the coming months.
Kroger and Albertsons - two of the largest grocery chains in the US - agreed to merge last October.
The agreement has come under Federal Trade Commission scrutiny, as members of the federal government are weary of a potential monopoly.
To appease fears, the companies have said they're open to selling off 250 to 300 store locations.
Experts say retail giant Amazon may be looking to swoop in and purchase the soon-to-be-for-sale stores.
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