IKEA: Sustainability as a business imperative!

For many of us, the ideal IKEA visit ends with full hands and a full stomach. In addition to delicious dishes offered at IKEA restaurant, many people like to treat themselves at IKEA bistro, with hot dog as one of the most popular.

For more than 40 years, the famous IKEA hot dog has been a favourite choice of customers. Now it’s time for the classic to get its modern alternative, so from now on, a plant-based version of the legendary IKEA hot dog is available at IKEA.

With great taste and texture, the new plant-based hot dog is the latest, innovative addition to the family of plant-based products at IKEA. Vegetable meatballs and hot dogs are old members of this family and are very popular among IKEA visitors.

” IKEA is driven by a vision to create a better everyday life for many people. When it comes to food, we try to realize our vision by offering a tasty, healthier, and more sustainable food option,” said Dušan Adamov, Food Sector Commercial Manager at IKEA Srbija.

IKEA wants to inspire even more customers to choose plant-based options by offering hot dogs at a more affordable price.

“We want to offer more plant-based alternatives to our customers with a lower climate impact. Choosing plant-based food often impacts climate footprint less than animal-based options”, added Dušan.

During the development process, one challenge was to create a plant-based hot dog with a texture like the classic hot dog. With animal-based hot dogs, there is usually a casing around the meat, which provides a snap when you take a bite, which many people like. After considering and testing several options, we managed to mimic the snap and crispiness of biting into a regular animal-based hot dog.

The new plant-based hot dog has a balanced taste, containing rice, onion, apple, salt, pepper, and smokiness to give the plant-based hot dog a characteristic sausage flavour.

“The hot dog is trendy at our restaurant in the department store and that’s why I’m very pleased that we’re adding a great new plant-based alternative to the family of plant-based products. In this way, we can motivate customers to make more sustainable choices. We devoted a lot of time to creating the perfect plant-based hot dog, made from certified raw materials and with an excellent taste and crispy texture, like its original version. My advice? Add fried onions to it. Very Swedish and very tasty”, said Dušan.

The plant-based hot dog is available at IKEA Srbija from 15 November 2023.