Case Studies

Accelerating Growth in the Plant-Based Category

2 minute read

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A major food and beverage company needed a focused strategy to expand its plant-based category. Catena Solutions stepped in to build a three-year roadmap grounded in consumer insights and category diagnostics, collaborating directly with senior leadership. The result was a clear, compelling plan ready for CEO review.

Project at a Glance

• Delivered a three-year North America growth roadmap, approved and well-received by the global CEO
• Roadmap and storytelling framework reused as a strategic planning model for yogurt, coffee creamer, and RTD beverage categories
• Secured alignment across senior Marketing leadership and created cross-functional clarity on long-term priorities
• Guided investment decisions and supported brand growth planning across multiple categories

The Challenge: How Do You Build a CEO-Ready Growth Roadmap Without Extra Internal Bandwidth?

A multinational food and beverage company aimed to accelerate growth in its plant-based category to keep pace with evolving consumer expectations and competitive pressure.

The organization needed to develop and present a three-year growth roadmap for North America but lacked the internal bandwidth to complete the work.

The Solution: A Strategy Consultant Embedded with Marketing Leadership

The company partnered with Catena Solutions to support this strategic initiative. We deployed a Strategy Consultant to collaborate closely with the Vice President of Marketing to translate the plant-based strategic plan into an executive-ready roadmap for the CEO.

Our consultant:

• Used new consumer segmentation insights to identify opportunities to target dairy switchers and plant-based adopters
• Identified specific base-types within the plant-based beverage category to guide focused growth bets
• Developed programming concepts to spark consumer and retail activation
• Built a detailed category diagnostic to define where to play and how to win
• Crafted the full strategic storyline outlining how the plant-based business unit would deliver growth over the next three years

Because our consultant was a former executive at a similar-sized food and beverage company, their industry knowledge and transferrable skills enabled them to hit the ground running, making an impact on the project right away. The consultant also offered a unique third-party perspective, bringing new ideas and methodologies to the company.

The Benefit: A CEO-Approved Roadmap That Became a Repeatable Strategic Model

The resulting presentation was approved and well-received by the global CEO. The client has since used the roadmap and storytelling framework as a model for future strategic planning in the yogurt, coffee creamer, and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage categories.

For the RTD beverage category specifically, the strategic planning model enabled the team to:

• Secure alignment across senior Marketing leadership
• Create clarity across functions on long-term priorities
• Guide investment decisions and support brand growth planning

If you’re looking to build and execute your growth strategy, contact us to see how Catena Solutions can help.