Huel Sainsbury's?

Checked at the local large Sainsbury’s here today. They didn’t have Huel out on the shelves anywhere but did have Feed in their “Trial Products” bay - Vanilla or Chocolate RTD, chocolate powder in a bottle to add water to, and various bars.

I asked Customer Services whether they would stock Huel in future and they referred me to the manager. Good news is they will stock both Vanilla and Chocolate RTD, but they only got their first delivery of two cases of Vanilla today and the Chocolate hasn’t arrived yet. I’m told both should be out next week in my store. He even told me the shelf location - it will be in the chiller cabinets with the flavoured milk and premix chilled coffees.

He also had Berry RTD listed on his range checker, plus Huel bars although neither of these had a ”fully stocked” flag which means apparently they aren’t stocking them at the moment but potentially intend to as they’ve been allocated a Sainsbury’s SKU code.

Just sharing as I couldn’t get the Huel store locator to work on my iPad and thought it might be useful to mention as it seems stock is slow getting to some stores so if you’ve already checked yours and didn’t find it it might be worth another look.

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I’m hoping ours will stock the range yours looks like its going to. So far they have had the RTD vanilla. I’m hoping to try the RTD chocolate. Thanks for the heads up.

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@Dan_Huel I wonder if you can tell me a bit about what it’s like to sell your product at a supermarket, just curious. Do they give you feedback on whether it’s being bought or is it just implied when they buy more off you? And is it part of the deal that they sell it in X number of stores or whatever? And do you get any say in where they put it? Like next to the protein shakes or by the ready meals for example

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Seems both Huel and my local Sainsbury’s are struggling to get their act together. I went back today in anticipation of both the Vanilla and Chocolate RTD being out on the shelves and couldn’t find either.
On checking at customer services it seems their delivery of the Chocolate RTD still hasn’t arrived and they are now expecting it in their Monday evening delivery. The 24 bottles of Vanilla they had delivered last Sunday are nowhere to be found. Their stock checker shows they have sold 3 bottles from that delivery but the rest of the stock isn’t out on the shelves anywhere that they can find it and it hasn’t been “dressed out” meaning it doesn’t have a shelf location and hasn’t officially been put out for sale.

Despite that they can’t find the rest of the two cases in their stockroom. A very frustrated manager today checked everywhere he could think of in the store trying to find it (flavoured milks in the chiller and ambient, breakfast cereal drinks, protein powders and meal replacement diet shakes, snacks and sandwiches, free from and vegan foods, milk alternatives, new to Sainsbury’s and all the chiller end bay promo spaces) with no success. It’s one of the large format out of town Sainsbury’s superstores (Brookwood) so it ended up being a bit of a needle in a haystack job.

I was told to come back on Wednesday when their Chocolate RTD should have arrived and when they have a chance to talk to their merchandising manager who might know where in the store it is.

So I’m still waiting to try the Chocolate RTD, hopefully better luck next week.

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Think our friends at the fulfilment centre have had a difficult couple of weeks

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fyi, some stores had Vanilla last week (the ones on the store locator), but most didn’t. Chocolate and Vanilla Ready-to-drink go into stores from today - it usually takes a few days to see full compliance from stores though. So Wednesday sounds like a more realistic estimation from your local store!

We’ll find out an average number sold each day, but we won’t know which stores are doing well and which aren’t.

This is all part of the negotiation. Huel is going to be in the ‘food-to-go’ section (i.e. the chillers at the front), which is a prime place for us as it will but us very close to the meal deals etc. We’ll also be in the ‘dairy’ aisle amongst flavoured milks etc.

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Brilliant! Best of luck with it then

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You can now order vanilla it on there website. If you haven’t already seen it. I’m sure the others won’t be far behind.

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It would be great to see Berry RTD in stores… that’s by far the best flavour in my opinion

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Exciting!! I remember when we photoshopped Huel into the supermarket aisle shelves picture a coupla months ago…and now it’s actually a reality!! Great job you & Huel, can’t wait to grab a chocolate RTD to try from Sains :smiley:

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No stock yet at Sainsbury’s in Kendal, apparently stock is due any day now.

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Still nothing for Norwich, nearest is Great Yarmouth so if I fancy getting on a :steam_locomotive: for a day at the seaside :ocean: I’ll have to go for a look.

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It is genuinely helpful for you guys to go and ask about it, because sometimes it’s just sat in the stock room! Thank you!

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I’m so excited to see this, I just tried my 1st RTD this morning (chocolate) and love it but am hesitant to order a full box if the others so having the opportunity to try a single bottle is great news. According to the store locator Dartford have them and I’m heading that way for work today.

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I got a chocolate to try this week and had it yesterday - it was like a decadent chocolate milkshake! I loved it and love the fact I can buy one occasionally from the supermarket.

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£3.50 a bottle in a Sainsbury’s near me in the fridge near the milk. It was proper cold when I got it. Win.

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I really want to try chocolate RTD. Nearest sainsburys near me that stocks it is a 10 min drive away. Think I may take the trip on Monday :slight_smile:

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Are you sure it stocks chocolate flavour? The web locator thing tells you which stores are stocking it but not which flavours. The store I went to earlier only had vanilla.

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I’ve now asked three times in my local Sainsbury’s with no joy.
First time they had received two cases of vanilla but hadn’t put it out yet because they were waiting for the chocolate. That was on 15th Sept.
Second time they still hadn’t received the chocolate but their stock checker showed they’d sold 3 bottles of vanilla despite it not being out on the shelves. They couldn’t find the other 21 bottles anywhere. That was on 22nd September.
I went in again today, still not out on the shelves anywhere. They have two cases of chocolate now which they managed to find in the stockroom chiller, but they still can’t find the vanilla. The manager I spoke to today suggested it might have been stored out of the chiller in the stockroom and then thrown out because someone thought it should be kept chilled.
He asked me if I knew whether it was delivered chilled or not. @Tim_Huel can you answer that?

Regardless they are clearly having a bit of a ‘mare in my local store! He did also say it was probably a 12 week trial and if it didn’t sell they wouldn’t reorder so I pointed out to him it was unlikely to sell if they didn’t put it out on the shelves! There isn’t a ticket for it in either the food to go section or flavoured milks.

So if you have poor sales from Sainsbury’s Brookwood you now know why!

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Shambles!!

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