Sustainable Shawarma: The Brands Pioneering The Gulf’s Plant-Based Meat Industry

As more Brits, Europeans and Americans cool on meat alternatives, one region is making gains on the protein transition – can homegrown brands in the Gulf cater to local demand for plant-based meat?

While some consumers in the West are turning their back on planet-friendly meat alternatives, citing reasons like inflation and unsatisfactory flavour, those in Africa and the Middle East are bucking the trend.

A growing number of consumers in the Gulf region are embracing plant-based food, as locals look for more sustainable options. While most meat analogues in the region have long been imported, which has often meant high markups for shoppers, a wave of homegrown companies is looking to change this.

A handful of startups are providing alternatives to more expensive products from international players like Kerry Group, Beyond Meat, Quorn, Amy’s Kitchen, and others while catering to the region’s youth. More than half of the GCC’s population is under 25, and across the world, younger generations tend to lead the plant-based charge.

In parallel, as concerns around food insecurity intensify, regional governments are recognising the potential of alternative proteins to safeguard the local food supply, providing the niche sector with added momentum.

Plant-based food in the Gulf in numbers

• Volume sales of meat increased by 12% in the GCC between 2018 and 2022, with Saudi Arabia alone accounting for 58% of the share.
• Poultry – specifically chicken – is the most common type of meat consumed in the region, with sales up by 16% between 2019 and 2022.
• Per capita, people in the UAE eat the highest amount of meat in the region (111kg per year), and consumptiona cross the Gulf is higher than the global average (63kg).
• Population growth, increased consumer spending, and a thriving tourism sector are expected to cause a 6% rise in chicken consumption in the UAE, and a 17% increase in production this year, according to the USDA.

• The GCC plant-based market is expected to expand significantly by the end of the decade, reaching $500M at a 35% CAGR. This is nearly double the industry’s predicted growth in the wider Middle East and Africa (MENA) region.
• While frequent consumption of meat-free food decreased by at least five percentage points in North America (now at 13%), Europe (18%), and Asia-Pacific (14%) between 2023 and 2024, Africa and the Middle East (38%) is bucking the trends with encouraging growth.
• As in the rest of the world, price is now the main barrier to eating more plant-based food in the Middle East, with 36% of consumers citing it. In addition, taste (33%), an unfamiliarity with eating vegan food (33%), and convenience and availability (32%) are equally important factors.

• Awareness about plant-based products is increasing in the GCC – in the UAE, 94% of people were familiar with them in 2023 (up from 91% in 2022), while in Saudi Arabia, this increased from 85% to 89% in 2023.
• A good chunk of consumers are also happy to pay a premium for plant-based food in the UAE (27%) and Saudi Arabia (21%).
• Around 15% of Emiratis want to cut back on meat, primarily for health reasons. And of these, 26% want to replace it with plant-based alternatives.
• Taste is the top purchase driver for meat alternatives (chosen by 33% of consumers) in the region, followed by brand reputation (25%) and recommendations from others (19%).
• Gulf consumers are most interested in replacing meat in their children’s meals, with nearly half (48%) saying so in the UAE, and 43% in Saudi Arabia.

• In Saudi Arabia, around 5% of a representative population sample followed a plant-forward diet, as of 2022, with four in five of them being women.
• Nearly 40% of these consumers have difficulty finding locally inspired plant-based food, and 20% say meat alternative options are restricted.
• While only 8% of Gulf consumers identified as flexitarian in 2023, this is set to rise to 23% by 2030.

The plant-based meat players leading the charge

Switch Foods

Based in Abu Dhabi, Switch Foods was founded by Edward Hamod in 2022 and made a splash in the region’s plant-based space with the opening of a 20,000 sq ft plant-based meat factory. Situated in the capital’s Khalifa Industrial Zone, the facility manufactures meat-free kebabs, koftas, soujouks, mince, and burger patties.

These products are available at over 130 stores across a wide range of retailers, including Carrefour, Spinneys, Waitrose, Géant, Union Coop, Sharjah Co-op, and LuLu, alongside online stores like Talabat, Careem, and InstaShop.

While 95% of its initial sales came from retail, its foodservice penetration has grown significantly since. Now, Switch Foods’s plant-based meat can be found at Hilton Hotels, Millennium Hotels, Marriot, 25hours Hotel, Eataly, and onboard Emirates flights, among others.

The company has raised $6.5M in seed funding and was said to be in talks to secure another $7M in Series A funding last year. Since June 2023, it has expanded at a 20% CAGR per month, and closed that year with a revenue of around Dh2 million ($544,000) in only half a year of operations. Last year, it expected to earn a revenue of Dh10 million ($2.7M).

Thryve

A subsidiary of business house IFFCO Group, one of the UAE’s largest food companies, Thryve arrived on the scene in late 2022 as part of its parent’s regenerative agriculture push. IFFCO Group has named regenerative farming and healthy soils as one of its ESG focus topics.

“We are guided by nature-based principles in our food system design, bringing nature to the core of our business decisions,” Valeria Krynetskaya, then head of Thryve, explained. “We rediscovered an ancient crop, Faba Bean with significant regenerative potential, healing soil through nitrogen fixation and saving water. We are transforming this climate-smart faba bean into faba-lous plant-based meat with local flavours of the Middle East.”

Marketed as the GCC’s first 100% plant-based venture – as opposed to meat companies that sell certain animal-free products – Thryve opened the Middle East’s first vegan meat production facility in Dubai Industrial City, and is part of a family of 80 brands with a footprint in over 100 countries.

Thryve’s fava-bean-based meats include burgers, mince, shawarma, koftas, shish tawook, chicken kabsa chunks, and nuggets, and they’re available at retailers like Carrefour, Waitrose, Lulu, Spinneys, and more in the UAE. The company has since expanded to Saudi Arabia too, and says its factory can help it reach 30% of the GCC population.

Arlene

Founded by Helene Raudaschl in 2020, Arlene makes frozen ready-to-eat vegan meals that incorporate meat analogues. They’re produced in a 60,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Dubai.

Arlene’s meat alternative dishes include local favourites like kebabs and kibbehs, Asian staples such as gyozas, dan dan noodles, and spring rolls, and international classics like spaghetti bolognese and chilli con carne.

The company’s products are available at Waitrose, Spinneys, and Maxzi in the UAE, as well as retailers in Singapore.

Nadura*

The newest kid on the block, Nadura* is a Dubai-based subsidiary of legacy manufacturer Food Specialties Limited, which launched in 2024 with a range of meat-free proteins made from Canadian peas.

The frozen burgers, mince and kebabs are marketed as clean-label alternatives to the ultra-processed foods typically found on the market. And in 2024, its chicken mince won Bronze at the Plant-Based Excellence Award at Plant Based World Expo Europe.

While these products are currently available online at Elfab in the UAE, the company is positioning them towards the foodservice and hospitality industry – soon, you could find its plant-based meat at restaurants across the country.