Really hoping this acquisition brings the best kind of growth for Huel without losing what we all love… but plenty of other businesses have made the same promises during a takeover.
I’m sure it’ll be fine in the short term, until maybe years down the line when Huel wants to go one direction and Danone another, because of their bottom line.
That said, Huel has earned my trust through great customer service and products, so I’ll be sticking around for now. Just please don’t slap a massive Danone logo on your products!
Absolutely not. We very much remain independent to make our own decisions on formulations and products. What we can say clearly today is that no changes to products or prices are planned, and your account, orders and deliveries continue exactly as they are. Beyond that, we’ll only speak to confirmed facts and share updates when there is something real to communicate.
I think to your comment, it’s really important to bring you guys on the journey to why Danone?
We chose them because we really believe that they’ll be able to help us do more of what we already do so well. They have a long-standing focus on nutrition and how food is produced.
Fundamentally, this means that we can grow faster and reach more people, plus it allows us to keep improving our products without having to move away from what we actually stand for.
On the dairy side, I went into this a little up the thread but here it is again if you missed it
I’m really excited about this, as are others, but we hope that you guys will be with us on this journey.
Absolutely. One of the reasons why Danone wanted us is because of the great work we’re doing already. They’ve already said they don’t want to come in and change things as they are already good where they are.
What I will say, however, Joining Danone brings additional resources and reach, but the business using those resources is still Huel.
We want to continue to build on this, but thank you for telling us this. Nothing is more important than the relationships in the community that we’ve built, so I hope that we can continue this
Well, you don’t know this. Yes, there is a risk, but it’s definitely not a given.
I’m also a customer since 2016, and I hope I can be a customer for the next 10 years.
I choose to remain optimistic. This might mean more products available for the EU market and maybe even reaching the grocery stores in Finland like some Huel competitors have. Also in my opinion traditional companies dealing in dairy and meat buying vegan companies has been going on for some time and at least locally in Finland the products haven’t really worsened or I have not noticed. I think it’s just a positive sign for the environment that big companies are also putting on an emphasis on vegan items
Ugh, Danone, really? They’re right up there with Nestlé on my list of companies I refuse to buy from because they’re just evil. Just read their Wikipedia page. If they don’t care about infants’ health (cause profit!), why should they care about mine? I guess it’s time to start looking for an alternative to Huel. Sigh.
This is a shame. I just started using Huel and was very surprised at how good it was. All of the products. It also seemed to have a very good moral compass and they’re completely turned their back on that it seems.
I have now unsubscribed and couldn’t put my reasoning as to why because of a very convenient bug that people are now pointing out en masse. Not a good sign already.
I’ve read Mark’s replies and I want to be straightforward.
Every response leans on “no changes planned,” B Corp status, or Danone backing plant-based being positive. But:
“No changes planned” is about today’s roadmap, not a binding commitment. Once the current administration is paid out over their deal - things can and will change drastically. They’ve left this intentionally open on Reddit.
B Corp doesn’t govern individual product formulations, pricing, or ingredients
Danone earned 52% of its 2025 revenue from dairy and has a well-documented environmental record that includes being named Indonesia’s top plastic polluter. After Huel started as the little engine that could that wouldn’t hand out free samples because they didn’t want to increase carbon footprint. To now being in bed with Indonesia’s top plastic polluter. What a rough fall.
What would actually keep me as a customer:
Binding formulation covenants that Huel stays vegan/plant-based
A commitment to communicate any ingredient changes to customers before they happen
Transparency on CEO tenure and what governance protections exist post earn out
If none of these were negotiated into the deal, just say so. Customers deserve to make informed decisions rather than be managed with PR talking points. I understand Huel needs the bag and they deserve it. No one is discounting that fact.
The way it is happening is not it, bro. Huel, and its customers, deserve so much better.
But ultimately it’s not up to ‘Huel’ any more as you abdicated that ultimate decision making to a dairy company of all things. Such a shame. Could have sold to a place with at least a little ethical backbone.
Rarely have I read such naiveté. Also, I’m sad to tell you, it’s no longer ‘we’ from the point of view of Huel, it’s ‘them’ and ‘they’. There is no Huel. Only misery.
I get how it looks, seen a few people reporting this issue, so I raised this to get fixed. I know it looks convenient, but I can assure you this isn’t the case.
I want to say right now that Huel remains Huel. Same mission, same team and same focus on nutrition. There are no planned changes to products or prices. Granted I know you come into these things with a guard up when the truth is who knows what is down the line in 5 years’ time, because we don’t. We are committed to staying Vegan and animal-product-free. This commitment aligns with our mission on improving the health of people and the planet through convenient and complete nutrition. When it comes to the deal itself, I only know what I’ve been informed and shared with you all. At this stage, the deal is subject to regulatory approvals, so it could be the case if it’s all said and done, more information comes out, and we can share more about it.
We’ve been tightening up on our comms, making sure that you guys are informed whenever there is a change and as a community team, we want to make sure we continue to keep you informed of any changes. The reason for Huel joining Danone now is to grow further, and utilise their amazing R&D capability. This can only lead to greater and better things and I hope that you’ll be with us on this
Congrats to Huel, I hope you all have some stock options or other incentive to benefit from this win!
I also hope that Danone has acquired you because they love Huel and want to grow it. Not because they want to take out a competitor and push their meal replacement products under the Huel brand. I like some Danone products, but their Alpro is not so great…
Sad - I knew it would happen eventually, I cannot blame the founders one bit as they’ve built a total machine.
It’s disappointing as a veteran since 2015. I’ve seen it coming for a while, the move towards more and more disposable single use products, shifting everything towards fitness (despite having replies in my forum posts here where you guys said it would never become a fitness-adjacent brand when I suggested it ), the association with Bartlett etc.
All we can do is hope nothing will change, but we’ve all seen how this one plays out before.
I’ve been a customer since the very beginning in 2015.
Fair play to the team, this is an amazing deal.
I don’t really see how this aligns with Huel’s original ethos: the vegan heart, the focus on reducing food waste, the whole “do better” positioning. Danone makes most of its money from dairy, is one of the world’s biggest plastic polluters, and has many criticisms around their supply chain… Still, I’m not about to pretend that I wouldn’t have taken £1 billion either. Who’s saying no to that?
I haven’t bought directly from Huel for a while because you stopped being good value, but I’ve still regularly chosen you in shops, and bought full bags from Facebook Marketplace.
That ends now.
Huel’s mission is no longer its own. Danone’s obviously overrides it and as an ethical consumer they are right up there with Nestle as a brand my family avoids. So this move puts Huel firmly on my no list from here on out.
Haven’t seen you in a while, and if you’ve been with us since 2015, that genuinely means a lot. Thank you for sticking with us for so long!
I hear what you’re saying. There are a lot of concerns like this, and I get why, especially when you look at how things have gone with other brands. I can’t speak for them, but I can say our commitment to sustainability and making a positive impact isn’t going anywhere. It’s a big part of why Huel exists in the first place.
The same goes for being vegan; that’s not changing. It’s core to what we do and tied directly to our mission of improving the health of people and the planet through convenient and complete nutrition.
Not going to lie, it’s tough reading messages like this. It’s never easy seeing someone who’s been with us this long decide to step away. We do want people to come on this journey with us, but I understand that for some, this is where they step off.
If things ever change for you down the line, you’re always welcome back.
), the association with Bartlett etc.