Plant-Based Cream Cheese is Coming to a Bagel Near You!

Sunday mornings are made for bagels and reading the New York Times. The smell of warm bagels, fresh coffee and plant-based cream cheese are enticing. Yes, plant-based Cream cheese. Now the leading cream cheese brand in America has introduced a vegan variety that mimics the real dairy spread.

Philadelphia’s new spread is dairy, lactose and gluten free and is available in the original flavor, according to a Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) press release. Additional flavors are planned to be rolled out in the summer of 2023.

Why go plant-based?
More and more people – a whopping 52 percent – who are not necessarily vegetarian or vegan are looking to add more plant-based foods to their diet.

“The influx of flexitarian consumers has driven growth within the plant-based market, which is now more than 20x the size of the vegan population,” Robert Scott, president of Research & Development at The Kraft Heinz Company said in the press release.

But data shows that less than half of the people who tried the faux cream cheese that was currently available are repeat buyers, That’s why KHC decided that they could do it better.

“As the brand that has set the cream cheese standard for 150 years, we realized the current options weren’t meeting consumer expectations and there was no trusted leader. Philadelphia plant-based spread not only provides a solution that mirrors the taste and texture of our iconic Philadelphia brand, but it also reinforces Kraft Heinz’s bet to bring plant-based offerings to the masses,” Scott said.

What makes this non-dairy spread different?
It took two years for the company to come up with the recipe for the new plant-based Philly, reported CNN. The research and development team focused on two things; getting the product to melt and spread properly, as well as making sure it passed for real cream cheese.

Mimicking dairy is tough according to Scott. “Getting dairy notes in a plant base is hard,” he told CNN. Even this spread from the first major dairy company doesn’t quite get the taste exactly right but the company’s goal is to get consumers to try the product and to keep coming back.

This is not KHCs first plant-based cheese product. In October, 2022, the company lunched a pilot program selling faux American cheese slices in partnership with Notco, a company that makes plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.

But it is a hard sell as people are more likely to give up on cheese and other dairy products than meat. The popularity for faux meat is soaring, only time will tell if dairy follow suit. In the meantime, try a smear of plant-based Philly on a bagel and enjoy the tradition.