Danone is buying Huel, a British meal supplement manufacturer, for €1 billion (£864 million). Huel was founded in Buckinghamshire in 2014 and is most known for its shake powder, which it claims is a nutritionally balanced alternative for a regular meal. Its investors include actor Idris Elba and broadcaster Jonathan Ross.
It has since expanded its product line to include ready meals, nutrition bars, and health drinks, all of which are plant-based. The company has already run into trouble with the UK advertising watchdog, which banned some of its advertisements for making “misleading” claims. According to the watchdog, one such advertisement made deceptive claims about the financial savings of replacing a regular diet with meal-replacement shakes.
Huel (a mashup of “human and “fuel) goods are largely sold directly to consumers, with some sales coming from stores and supermarkets, but the Danone partnership will allow it to expand into new areas. The market for so-called complete nutrition products, aimed at busy, health-conscious customers, is estimated to be worth $5.9 billion (£4.4 billion). Some experts, however, have questioned the efficacy of substituting meals with nutritionally dense beverages.
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