IKEA Pledges To Make 50% Of Its Restaurant Meals Plant-Based By 2025

Furniture giant IKEA has pledged to make half of its restaurant meals plant-based by 2025.

The company also says in the next five years 80 percent of its packaged food offerings will also be plant-based.

Moreover, only 20 percent of its restaurant’s main meals will contain red meat by 2025.

The targets are part of IKEA’s sustainability commitments in connection with the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit 2021.

‘Affordable and desirable’

Lena Pripp-Kovac is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Inter IKEA Group. In an online statement she said: “[We] want to make healthy and sustainable choices the most desirable option.

“Research confirms the importance of making sustainable products affordable and desirable. IKEA can really make a positive difference here.”

Pripp-Kovac also said sustainable choices shouldn’t be ‘a luxury for the few’ and ‘should be part of people’s everyday life’.

‘A sustainable food system’

Peter van der Poel is Managing Director for IKEA of Sweden and Manager IKEA Range & Supply

He added: “A truly sustainable food system must be based on delicious, nutritious and responsibly produced food. 

“IKEA is taking a full value chain approach to contribute to sustainable food systems. From responsible sourcing of materials and reducing food waste along the value chain.

Poel also said the new initiatives will help ‘make healthy and sustainable food options available to as many people as possible’.

Vegan meatballs

Earlier this year, IKEA launched a vegan version of its iconic meatball.

The product is made from plant-based ingredients such as pea protein, oats, apples, and potatoes.

According to IKEA, they also have a 96 percent lower climate footprint than its meaty counterpart.

They are available in the U.K and other countries such as Australia.