Liam Pritchett writes about REWE's bold business move for Plant Based News.
REWE completely plant-based
You don't have to be a particularly careful observer to notice that our western neighbors are fond of vegan products. In Poland, especially in large urban centers, the situation is not bad in this respect, but it seems that the German offer of plant food products is much wider and more systematized. It's hard to find a store where you can't buy at least a few vegan delicacies.
REWE, I know from my own experience, is a clear leader in this field. Polish vegans may envy German vegans for their excellent eggless spread, crispy plant-based bacon and the extremely appetizing vegan wursts that can be bought there. As reported by “Plant Based News”, recently the company decided to go a step further and opened a REWE Voll Pflanzlich store in Berlin, which can be translated as “REWE completely plant-based”. For now, it will be only one branch, but the chance that this business model will bring profits and more will be opened is not small.
Germany for vegans
REWE is the second largest grocery store in Germany – there are approximately 3,300 outlets throughout the country. A new store, symptomatic of Polish vegans, is opening on Warschauer Straße, or Warszawska Street, in the eastern district of Berlin, Friedrichshain. Previously, there was a completely vegan Veganz supermarket there, but the owners of this brand gave up trading in favor of plant-based food production and the facility closed in 2023.
Interestingly, the vegan REWE will be unique for now, but the company's subsidiary brand, BILLA, already operates two strictly plant-based stores in Austria – in Vienna and Graz. However, Germany's turn had to come sooner or later, because this nation is the fastest in Europe to become vegetarian. More than 1.5 million Germans declare themselves as vegans, and half of the population – approximately 40 million people – describe themselves as “flexitarians”, i.e. people who limit the consumption of animal products.
