I suspect health food shops like Holland and Barratt in particular do not stock Huel as it would undermine sales of their other product ranges. Why would you bother with food supplements or anything else from a health food store when you supposedly get everything all in with Huel ?
Similarly newsagents or supermarkets would be reluctant to stock Huel as it would undermine sales of their other food ranges.
Obviously I understand that Huel would never take over the planet and people want to eat different “real” food for variety and as a social occasion especially in a restaurant. A huge poportion of the economy is built on catering and food retail. Obviously Huel sales represent only a tiny proportion of that but I don’t think shops are keen on helping Huel sales increase as it would be seen as an undermining influence.
The reason that Huel is not available in retail outlets is because we currently do not sell to retail outlets as it’s not in our business model. We’re young and don’t have the resource for this. It’s something we may consider in the future. I do think many would welcome including it in their range. I don’t think Huel would stop people buying other foods; there’s room for both.
Powdered food is still very much a niche product area. It’s growing quickly but as powders there’s a conceptual/perceptual thing to get through that I don’t see happening in a way that’d make anything but web sales worth it in the medium term.
Soylent is midway through a major push into stores in the states, but that’s as a ready to drink product rather than powder - seems to be a much easier positioning and I tend to think Huel needs a ready to drink product to really push into the mainstream fully - Huel disagree with me though ha, and RTD doesn’t align well with minimum waste/environmental production ideals.
I’m still holding out for 2L Huel tetrapack though, one day.
There is a push in the UK for providing free tap water in cafes and shops which can be used to fill your own personal empty water bottle.and save on once only used plastic bottles. Could easily be combined with powdered Huel from a shop. Simples.
Sounds like huel is at the advanced stage of a dragons den scenario. An injection of cash and introduction to some big retailers would transform things
A big problem with the liquid breakfast on last nights Dragons Den was that it only had a shelf life of three days which I guess would be a similar problem for any liquid Huel.