Target launches Good & Gather Plant Based label

Target Corp. has added a plant-based line to its year-and-a-half-old Good & Gather food and beverage brand.

Called Good & Gather Plant Based, the new collection includes more than 30 products for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, Minneapolis-based Target said Tuesday. Items range from plant-based dips and spreads, oat milk, almond milk creamer and vegan salad dressing to meatless beef and chicken patties, pea-protein meatballs and buffalo-style cauliflower wings.

Most Good & Gather Plant Based products are priced at less than $5, Target noted, adding that the line joins hundreds of plant-alternative foods and beverages in the retailer’s roster of private and national brands. Good & Gather Plant Based also focuses on flavor, with such offerings as nondairy chocolate-flavored mousse dip, everything seasoned cashew dip and spread, and caramel vanilla almond-milk creamer.

Good & Gather Plant Based is aimed at shoppers seeking something different in terms of flavor.

Good & Gather Plant Based dips and meat alternatives are already available in stores and online, and other items like creamers and salad dressings will roll out through the fall, Target said.

The Target line extension comes as consumer purchases of plant-based foods continue to surge. In 2020, the growth rate for the U.S. plant-based food market more than doubled, with sales jumped 27% to $7 billion, according to the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) and The Good Food Institute (GFI).

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“Good & Gather Plant Based reinforces the brand’s commitment to products that prioritize great taste and quality, with the value only Target can offer,” Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief food and beverage officer at Target, said in a statement. “Guest demand for plant-based offerings is incredibly high and continues to grow. By adding Good & Gather Plant Based to our curated assortment of plant-based offerings, we’re giving guests more of what they want and making it easy for them to discover the joy of food every day.”

Since its retail launch in September 2019, Good & Gather has grown to more than 2,000 SKUs and become Target’s largest own brand, generating sales of more than $2 billion in 2020, the company said. That includes the rollout of a premium line called Good & Gather Signature as part of a 600-item expansion last fall. At the time, Target said Good & Gather — which replaced its Archer Farms and Simply Balanced labels, plus some Market Pantry products — accounted for more than half of its own-brand food sales.

Related:Target adds Good & Gather premium line in latest expansion

“Good & Gather is off to a tremendous start, a multibillion-dollar brand in a short period of time. It has been well-received by our guests, great quality at a great value, and I think it typifies the things we do with our own brands,” Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell said in an early March conference call on fiscal 2020 results. “And we’re very excited about the momentum we have in food and beverage. We took significant market share throughout the year, and the guest has certainly recognized and appreciates the Good & Gather brand. So we think that’s a way for us to continue to differentiate our offerings.”

In April, Target also began rolling out Favorite Day, a new food and beverage store brand designed to offer premium flavor at affordable prices. Building on Good & Gather, Favorite Day initially will span more than 700 products in categories such as bakery, trail mix, premium ice cream, snacks, beverage mixers and “mocktails,” candy and cake decorating supplies.