If you buy flavour drops then it’s the same price for every flavour of a product, that means also for cinnamon swirl, cinnamon bun etc.
I guess the price increase is due to the fact, that developing new products and flavours does mean additional costs for a company and needs financial investment. Employees who develop these products want a salary. To sell it one has to promote it via social networks, which means more marketing costs. I completely understand the price increase and find it justified from that perspective.
It seems that Huel’s new focus is on better and more flavours, not better products, a better formula, more antioxidants etc. That disappoints me to be honest, as I don’t really see the need for new products - only better products. But that is my personal opinion and not relevant in this context. What is important is what the majority of all customers prefers and thinks.
Perhaps it helps you to know that even the “old” products are more expensive in Germany than the new flavour in the UK. This is a much more annoying fact, which has increasingly made me buy from other, similar companies in the last time. But anyway, most of them have regular price increases, especially if they develop new products, which almost every single one of them has done recently; this seems to be the new trend, and what the market wants.
I like the idea of new flavours however paying extra for a flavour is bad, ive not tried the new cinnamon one yet but from what people say its not as strong as the salted caramel and that costs less, if this is the way its going to be i am out, we have just had an incredible £7 increase but it would be £11 if i bought two bags of this cinnamon one, i was happy enough to let the prices go up as everything does but this is just absolutely taking the piss, its a flavour, a flavour.
I don’t really understand all the fuzz about the higher price. If you don’t think it is worth it then just stick to the other flavors or even another brand. I doubt that the prices will lower based on complaints here. If anything they will lower if the sales seems to go down as an effect of the higher prices.
Even if it was a case of making new flavour prices higher for a month or something whilst its new then lowering it to the regular cost, i could accept that.
I haven’t had SC so cant compare but the strength of flavour in Cinnamon Swirl is about the same strength as when I use a flavour boost. normally when I make two shakes together I add a tablespoon of boost so thats a little more than double what they suggest - if that helps.
one of favourite drinks was Vanilla Black Edition with Gingerbread FB and Fudge Brownie Protein. using that amount of FB you could still taste it through the chocolate. I tried the same drink but with CS black edition and the FB protein and got the same flavour strength result.
I wonder if some people confuse sweetness with flavour strength, I like Original v3 but I wouldn’t say it has a particularly intense flavour but is very sweet - so I normally tone it down with UU. Cinnamon Swirl isn’t overly sweet and I can drink it fine as is without using UU to cut the sweetness.
I tried all the v2 RTD and Salted Caramel was the most disappointing - it was sweet but only a very mild aftertaste of the caramel whereas the CInnamon Swirl and Iced Coffee flavours had a very good strength of flavour which was really the opposite of what I had expected beforehand.
Interesting article, seems that word ‘natural’ is abused. Will Huel tell us about the type of cinnamon used? It’d be good to know.
But really, is it worth paying extra just for a new flavour? I’d pay more for an improved product, nutritionally. That’d be money well spent, but just for a new flavouring? No.
The range of flavours is nice to have, and helps stop Huel getting boring, but to pay extra for one particular flavour seems like an unnecessary expense.
Why? Virtually every branded food product does this with their ranges. It’s an entirely standard practise. As someone used Tesco as an example – let’s look at their own label (not Finest brand) soups. Depending on the flavour, the price ranges from 12p/100ml to 72p/100ml.
Even the humble Snickers bar ranges from 50p/100g to £1.47/100g. it’s still just a Snickers put wildly different prices depending on the flavour.
Why? Well since you ask, because for me Huel’s value is about nutrition and convenience and the flavours are a nice added bonus, but not worth paying extra for.
it is about convenience but it is also about variety - buying flavoured premixes - even with premium priced flavourings - is still cheaper than buying the same base and adding your own.
if there isn’t a choice available then people will get bored real quick and turn away from it to a brand that has more (see Soylent’s recent implosion) - personally I think it is better for a brand to offer customers a broad choice and leave it to them to decide if they want to buy them or not. if they don’t then it will be dropped. as no one is obligated to buy it then its a non issue. if customers take to it and think its worth paying the premium then that too is their choice.
Yes customers vote with their feet. That’s for sure.
& of course variety is good, and more choice of flavours is good, but price differentials must make a difference to their relative appeal, to some extent. Certainly do to me.
they absolutely do - but different products appeal to different customer demographics so for me, it just looks like they are testing the waters with this to see how it flies.
Again using Tesco as an example, they made their fame from selling sugar laden tins of beans for pennies but made their fortune from (in a very compressed time frame) diversifying into still selling sugar laden tins of beans for pennies but also selling very high end produce, punching way above their the perceived image and at the same time netting a whole new (broader) range of customers.
You pays yer money, you takes yer choice. Will it fly? Be interesting to know.
So Huel might be making efforts to diversify up-market - to attract a more affluent demographic - as in your Tesco analogy; but might also strive to keep costs down for regular punters (in the age of austerity and the cost of living crisis).
The Tesco example shows the value of moving both ways in the interests of variety: ie premium prices for the well-heeled; and budget options for the rest of us. So how about unflavoured Huel powders for those who just want the basic nutrition, at a reduced price? Might be a best seller!
The team have confirmed that we use a more premium cinnamon flavouring system which contains real cinnamon. We can’t be too specific sadly as this forms part of our top secret recipe.
