1. PESTLE: the UK market
- Political: government campaigns on healthy eating and rules restricting promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt.
- Economic: food prices have risen sharply in recent years, so shoppers compare value closely and supermarket own brands compete hard.
- Social: more people say they are cutting down on meat, especially younger shoppers, but many still see plant-based meals as a treat rather than an everyday buy.
- Technological: better texture and flavour technology, and growth in online grocery shopping.
- Legal: UK food labelling, allergen and import rules that differ from Australia's after Brexit.
- Environmental: pressure from retailers to cut packaging and report carbon emissions across the supply chain.
2. SWOT: GreenPlate
- Strengths: award-winning recipes, low-carbon production, experience supplying large supermarkets at home.
- Weaknesses: no UK brand awareness, long shipping distance, limited marketing budget.
- Opportunities and threats: taken from the PESTLE above, such as growing interest in eating less meat (opportunity) and strong own-brand competition (threat).
3. TOWS: turning findings into strategy
- SO (strengths to opportunities): lead with the low-carbon story to win a listing with a retailer that has public sustainability targets.
- WO (fix weaknesses using opportunities): launch online first through a grocery delivery partner to build awareness cheaply.
- ST (strengths against threats): use recipe quality to justify a price slightly above own brands, backed by in-store tastings.
- WT (limit weaknesses and threats): make the meals under licence in the UK to cut shipping costs and labelling risk.