Plant-Based Beverages

Plant-based beverages are the fastest-moving part of the beverage category and the one most closely tied to what Canada grows: oats and peas come from the domestic crop, so the provenance story is real rather than assembled.

The technical variables are protein content, stabiliser system, mouthfeel, and separation behaviour over shelf life in a warm climate: the last of these being where formulations validated in temperate conditions most often fail.

As with juice, the freight arithmetic favours concentrate or a base shipped to a destination bottler over finished ready-to-drink, unless the positioning is genuinely premium.

Claims are the compliance item: protein content claims, fortification and comparisons to dairy are all regulated and differ by destination.