SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

Although the Chinese mass-market still has a weak consumer awareness of plant-based meat products, the potential purchasing power of China’s younger generation should not be underestimated. However, most existing studies focus on the Western consumer market or look at Chinese consumers as a whole, and therefore lack information on young consumers’ attitudes toward plant-based meat products. This paper covers samples across ages to make comparisons and find out more about younger consumers, especially the Gen-Z group (born between 1995-2006), and their awareness, acceptance, and willingness to pay for plant-based meat products through a questionnaire survey (n = 153). The results show that Gen-Zs are indeed more likely to be potential consumers of plant-based meat products than other generations, although there is still space for growth. Social media brings a lot of relevant information to young consumers, but still does not effectively mobilize purchasing power due to the predominance of negative discussion. At the same time, young consumers generally do not see plant-based meat products as meat alternatives, but as a brand new type of snack food. Therefore, the taste of plant-based meat products and food safety issues are more important to them.