To say vegan mayo should be cheaper than regular?

[amoreoamicizia]

It seems to me that vegan mayo is just going up and up in price to ridiculous levels, it's now way more expensive than regular mayo even though it's ingredients are cheaper! Lidl's own brand version has been discontinued which was about 90p vs. three or four pounds for a large bottle of Hellman's. It's all just really annoying and unreasonable.

Surely it’s the economy of scale. It’s cheap and easy to make your own.

It’s a niche product with a restricted market. What do you expect?

Why should it be cheaper? The "real" stuff you buy in supermarkets has a TINY bit of egg in it, I don't think adding a tiny bit of egg makes a huge difference. More importantly, to make it vegan they probably have all kinds of rules they have to follow, adding to the price, plus to make it taste like mayo, additional flavourings and ingredients and processes. And most importantly, they are most likely making a very very tiny amount of vegan mayo vs normal mayo - anything made in smaller amounts is more expensive.

What ingredients in non vegan mayo is expensive?

Why? It's a niche product produced for a niche market. Of course it's going to be more expensive

I think the actual ingredients are only a small part of the cost. As PPs have said it is partly an economies of scale thing but probably also the supermarkets know that people who want vegan food will have to pay for it - almost whatever they charge. Pricing is not just about the costs of production, but also to do with what the shops feel they can get away with.

Bu your reasoning decaff coffee should be cheaper than normal, or alcohol free beers?

Its basic economy of sales

Not at all. Those products are not omitting the most expensive ingredient vs. from the original formulation.

Pricing is not just about the costs of production, but also to do with what the shops feel they can get away with.

Exactly, that is my point. It's pure exploitation.

Lidl managed to produce it for under £1 a jar, though? 🤔 Until they were presumably threatened with a lawsuit.

Why would they have been threatened with a lawsuit? Maybe it just wasn't cost effective to make/sell it for a niche market.

What about alcohol free gin, which is a similar price to normal gin but presumably not subject to the same tax?

far more likely, they realised they could no longer produce it for that price, so they stopped.

Oil, for example, has massively gone up in price. Rapeseed oil is cheaper, true, but all oils have gone up. Olive oil in particlar.

I think you're being ridiculous. 7% eggs in Hellmans mayo. So less than 1 egg in a large jar! That is not adding any meaningful difference to the price. The Hellmans vegan stuff has a bunch of other ingredients instead of egg AND probably involves a more complicated production process.

Hellman's both types are £3 for 750g at the moment.

It's not just about omitting ingredients though. It's about researching and reformulating the rest so the product tastes palatable.

You don't have to buy it.

You don't have to be vegan.

They're both choices people make like anything else.

The thing is... the manufacturers will have had to spend millions in research & development testing to come up with a viable alternative to the regular product, and they have to recoup those costs somehow. Since it is a relatively niche product, then of course it is going to cost more.

Real mayo can easily be made at home from natural ingredients.
I'm curious to know what crap ingredients go into vegan not-mayo.

I'm not vegan, I just dislike the eggy fart smell/taste of real mayo.

Did they?

Or did they use it as a loss leader? then stopped taking the hit because it didn’t have the impact expected?

Again, what fresh ingredients are used in lidls normal mayo compared to vegan mayo?

Op, im not sure exploitation means what you think it means. No one is forced to buy mayo. And why on earth would they be threatened with a law suit? A law suit for what?

Again, what fresh ingredients are used in lidls normal mayo compared to vegan mayo?

Again, egg 😒

And how much egg is there in each bottle?

and you know the costs of all the ingredients that go into vegan mayonnaise?

You do understand they substitue the egg right, likely with aquafaba or similar, and need to run a whole different production for it, and won’t have the economies of scale. Right?

Nothing so natural as aquafaba is gracing Hellman's vegan mayo! It is pure synthetic rubbish and oil.

Edit:

Hellman's vegan mayo: Rapeseed oil (52%), water, spirit vinegar, modified starch, sugar, salt, natural flavourings (contain MUSTARD), lemon juice concentrate, thickener (xanthan gum), antioxidant (calcium disodium EDTA), paprika extract, sunflower oil

Hellman's Real mayo:
Rapeseed oil (78%), EGG ? EGG yolk (7.9%), water, spirit vinegar, sugar, salt, lemon juice concentrate, flavourings, antioxidant (calcium disodium EDTA), paprika extract, sunflower oil