Chicken Prices Fuel a Smart Stunt by Plant-Based Alpha Foods

It’s been called The Great Poultry Crisis of 2021, with the American food industry blaming everything from underperforming roosters to inclement weather for an ongoing chicken shortage this summer. Alpha Foods, a major player in the plant-based protein space, has coined its own term, “chickenflation,” and has offered a solution for consumers who want to satisfy a craving without breaking the bank. In a pun-laced announcement, the brand says that the “flock market” may be in distress, but it’s coming to the rescue by slashing prices on its faux chicken products. As the cost of chicken wings increases—per-pound price has more than doubled from about $1.50 on average to nearly $4—Alpha will drop its prices by the same amount. Alpha will tout the move, a savvy way for the alt meat manufacturer to wade into a headline-grabbing cultural moment, with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal and a splashy billboard in New York. The brand took over the iconic digital billboard at NASDAQ at midday today. Street teams will hand out coupons in Times Square, including outside a local Popeyes restaurant, offering discounts of as much as 30% on Alpha’s meat-free chicken nuggets and other products. Consumers anywhere can claim the cost savings via the dedicated website, chickenflation.com. The stunt aims to “encourage people to try something new, without the pressure of changing their entire diet,” Kierstin De West, CMO, said in a statement. The experiential and media activation comes from Mischief @ No Fixed Address, the Alpha agency of record behind another recent stunt that doled out DIY seed kits so consumers could grow their own plant-based food ingredients. The program is the most recent example of plant-based food marketers capitalizing on problems in the Big Meat supply chain. Darlings in the category like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat expanded their distribution and amped up their partnerships and advertising during 2020’s lockdown, when slaughterhouse outbreaks of Covid-19 caused meat shortages and price hikes. Beyond just rolled out meat-free chicken tenders at 400 mom-and-pop diners and other indie restaurants, and Impossible is reportedly jumping into the chicken nugget fray soon. And last week, the faux seafood brand Good Catch took advantage of an attention-grabbing New York Times investigation that found no tuna DNA in Subway’s sandwiches. The plant-based startup sent food trucks to Subway stores in New York, London and Austin, Texas to hand out its fish-less version of tuna subs. And as for the current chicken scarcity, there are a number of theories on why this is happening. Some industry watchers blame the chicken sandwich wars at fast food restaurants—though Popeyes recently said the battle is over, declared a truce with its competitors and launched its first-ever nuggets. Other analysts point to freak winter storms in chicken-producing states like Texas and stepped-up consumer demand for comfort food that was delivery-friendly, like wings, during lockdown. And still another theory? Underperforming roosters, according to industry behemoth Tyson, leading to fewer eggs and lower hatch rates. On that note, here's a look at Alpha Foods' full ad about "underperforming males" running in the Wall Street Journal: This Plant-Based Meat Alternative’s Cartoon Series Questions Morality of Eating Animals

Plant-Based Products

Alpha Foods Puts a Spotlight on 'Chickenflation' by Cutting Prices on Its Meatless Chik'n

The brand is the latest plant-based protein marketer to exploit Big Meat's supply problems

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley