Plant-Based Food Algorithm Developed By Datassential

In collaboration with Datassential's trend experts and data scientists, data scientists developed a new universal language for plant-based descriptions.

FREMONT, CA: "This is a game-changer for our customers," said Alison Watson, Associate Director of MenuTrends, Datassential's market-leading menu analysis tool. "While companies can still create a bespoke definition for plant-based, they can now easily analyze the full breadth of the category from alternative milks to plant-based sausages. As flexitarian and climatarian diets grow, we will see plant-based items playing a more varied role on menus."

Manufacturers and operators can now better understand the composition of plant-based alternatives on menus with a new algorithm from Datassential, the leading food and beverage insights platform. 

With the advent of new technologies and brands, plant-based items are on the rise and are becoming more prevalent on menus across the country. The diverse vocabulary and definitions used in the industry have made tracking trends and insights challenging. Datassential's solution provides an intuitive way to easily and confidently understand plant-based menu trends for dairy and meat replacements.

"Building an automated and intelligent approach was critical to decoding the complex universe of plant-based trends," said Datassential Chief Data Scientist, Alex Langowski. "With the rapid evolution of plant-based items, our customers need insight into current trends as well as the ability to look back into historical data to fully understand the trend."

The Datassential team compiled a universal language of plant-based descriptions that trend experts and data scientists curated and developed an algorithm to capture everything that embodies the spirit of the plant-based trend. It encompasses dishes like the 'tofu scramble with pork' and 'cauliflower steak' but does not include 'side of broccoli.'

Datassential's proprietary algorithm is being offered as a first-time offer to the MenuTrends customers of Datassential. This algorithm will also help customers overcome the challenge of accessing comprehensive information and insights about plant-based menus by 2025, when 40 percent of menu items are expected to be plant-based.