People love chocolate. It's one of the few indulgences that works for celebrating any occasion, whether holidays, personal and professional milestones, or just a day that ends with a satisfying, familiar dessert. How many times have we heard:  

I had a bad day. I need some chocolate! 

Today was a great day – some chocolate ice cream would make it even better!

I don't normally like chocolate, but this is pretty good! 

While the love for chocolate is almost universal, it can be a bit more complicated for vegan consumers. Vegan products can't include dairy or come into contact with animal-derived products. We know what you're already thinking – isn't chocolate plant-based, already making it vegan?

While cacao beans are naturally sourced from lands in tropical climates worldwide, chocolate at the consumer level is typically broken down into three categories:  

• Milk Chocolate – Since it contains dairy (unless using non-dairy, oat, or almond milk), it is not considered vegan.
• White Chocolate – This category often contains dairy products and doesn't usually contain cocoa solids.
• Dark chocolate – This type of chocolate is inherently vegan since it usually doesn't include dairy or any other animal-based ingredients. It contains more than 50% cacao content with only a few other added ingredients. However, some manufacturers add non-vegan elements such as butter or honey, so label transparency is vital for vegan consumers.

And plenty of vegan consumers are searching for healthier or more ethical chocolate alternatives. In 2023, according to a Global Market Insights report, the market for vegan chocolates was valued at USD $662.54 million, with a CAGR exceeding 13.6% between 2024 and 2032. While the growth in demand presents an exciting opportunity for producers, it will also ignite challenges for manufacturers and food formulators.

Vegan chocolate ingredients and ethical and sustainable sourcing mean increased processing costs compared to traditional chocolate production. The need for vital ingredients – such as premium quality cocoa substitutes – can create supply chain and pricing obstacles.

Consumers also want chocolate products that taste like actual chocolate rather than an unrecognizable facsimile. If the product quality lacks the familiar texture, delightful mouthfeel, or scrumptious taste, it won't find acceptance among shoppers on the hunt for plant-based sweets. This means manufacturers will need more research and development investment and must also find innovative ways to overcome formulation challenges that forego dairy inclusion.    

Despite these challenges, major chocolate brands such as Ghirardelli, Mars, Nestlé, and more are embracing the opportunity and providing options to stake out first-mover advantage among vegan chocolate consumers.

Stephen Colelli, product manager, Foodology by Univar Solutions recently shared his insights about the state of the market and the importance of ingredient distribution and specialty formulation solutions to help producers reach sweet-toothed vegans.  

What ingredients are manufacturers typically using to replace dairy components to get a milky-like appearance, mouthfeel, and taste? What, if any, are some of the drawbacks? 

Creating a product with a similar balance of snappiness and smoothness of conventional chocolate is difficult. However, new products – such as rice flours, powders, and familiar coconut-based options – are perfect considerations to support a plant-based label claim without breaking the bank. 

What current trends are driving the vegan chocolate market? 

Consumers looking for vegan-friendly chocolate are often interested in organic options as well. That's great news because many new launches in the vegan space are also organic. Vegan consumers demand more transparency about sustainability standards and whether high-quality plant-based ingredients are being used – even on the product packaging. There's a considerable need for label transparency from the producers, which is paramount to connect with vegan shoppers authentically.  

With the entry of big brands (Nestlé's vegan KitKat V, Cadbury's Plant Bar, and Lindt's Vegan Chocolate line), is this a boon for the plant-based chocolate category? Does this accelerate consumer acceptance and ingredient innovation? 

Absolutely! The plant-based chocolate category is growing rapidly year over year in Europe, and a significant majority of global consumers are interested in eating more plant-based foods.

As more global producers recognize and support this growth, we expect the plant-based chocolate trend to accelerate in North America over the upcoming year and those that follow. Consequently, distributors must meet the challenge by providing formulators with the best vegan chocolate ingredients available.

Reach out to our Foodology by Univar Solutions team for your plant-based ingredients and to overcome your vegan chocolate formulation challenges.