In the wake of PepsiCo's tie-up with meat alternatives company Beyond Meat last week, soft drinks commentator Lucy Britner looks at the category's underlying trends in health & wellness and assesses the benefits of tapping up the experts to create the next wave of functional fixes. Soy-based AdeZ was repositioned as 'plant-based' when launched in the UK three years ago While plant-based beverages are nothing new, the term has certainly gained traction over the past year, as the pandemic forces consumers to take a closer look at health & wellness, as well as sustainability. Indeed, according to recent research from Mintel, a quarter of young British Millennial consumers (aged 21-30) believe that COVID-19 has made a vegan diet more appealing.