I am very proud of my mum today. She struggles to eat sometimes, she has a very sensitive stomach and I know she can’t really be bothered with cooking just for herself quite often since my dad died (was a while ago but still).
Anyway, I gave her a taste of my huel drink a few weeks ago and she really liked it so I dropped a pack of BE chocolate, some of the bars for her to try and a few flavour boosters for her the other day.
She really hasn’t felt like eating anything since yesterday but she managed a huel for lunch today and just messaged me to ask for more salted caramel bars!
So that’s 600 really nicely balanced calories that she had whereas without the huel there wouldn’t be anything much more than maybe a bit of toast and a cup a soup.
Very happy that she’s giving it a go, huel should consider pushing adverts in some relevant publications for older people because so many can’t be bothered to cook if they are alone and malnutrition amongst the elderly is such a problem, especially in the current climate.
Of course Huel works for elderly, it works for everyone who struggles with eating enough food and does not get enough nutrients.
The trouble with advertising is that once Huel advertises for elderly, Huel will be viewed as “That weird food you give to old people because they can’t feed themselves”, which would deter most non-elderly from eating it.
Same with Huel advertising as hospital food - it’s better than anything the hospitals currently give you, but if you did that then Huel would become “That weird food you get in hospitals”.
Or Huel for prison population - “That weird food for prisoners”.
Or for the homeless - “That weird food to feed the homeless”.
Or people on benefits - “That weird food for poor people”.
Or people in famine areas - “That weird food for 3rd world countries”.
Or disaster relief - “That weird food for areas stricken by natural disasters”.
Or for prepping for some world pandemic - “That weird food for preppers”.
etc.
Advertising is hard.
Of course I’d like to see a future where if you’re thirsty, the default thing is to drink water, if you’re hungry, the default thing is to eat Huel. Nobody views eating bread as weird, and it feeds everyone - hospitals, schools, prisons, poor, rich, disaster areas, starvation areas, etc. Huel (and other complete foods) should become the same one day.
The most successful and defensive investment plays in a global recession are things which people simply cannot go without.
Last time around I experienced the joys of pet food companies - no one wants little tiddles or Fido going without food.
This time I’ve been advising halal. If advertising is on “brand awareness” role for adverts to the older population and then “mission awareness” for the next generation then it won’t simply be the odd random like me feeding Huel to their nearest and dearest.
That’s just a view from private equity, others may well disagree of course.
I’m currently reading a book: The way we eat now : strategies for eating in a world of change by Bee Wilson.
I’m only about a quarter of the way through but it’s a well written and interesting account of modern day food production and eating habits around the world, and how habits have changed in recent decades (or less). Definitely worth a read.
Ah Matt, that is so lovely to hear. My grandma is similar, difficult to eat much - so tough to see that. It’s great your Mum’s now enjoying Huel, that is just what she needs. Keep us posted on how she is getting along. During lockdown we’ve had a number of customers getting Huel to elderly relatives/neighbours/friends to help them out.
I think word of mouth is our friend here and many people are already doing this. We also don’t really do adverts in more traditional platforms (magazines, tv, newspapers). It’s a difficult one and we’re certainly not adverse to more elderly using Huel at all.
I’ve had a similar experience with my father in law. He has had cancer twice and lost a lot of weight. He doesn’t always take good care of him self because he doesn’t want to cook for just himself. So I ordered some Huel for him and he loves it. He even gained a few pounds so I’m really happy!
It’s only now that I am nearing the end of the bookthat I realise there is a whole section about meal replacement meals and Huel in particular. Even reference to @Julian’s hatred of cucumbers. I thought it was just cats that were scared of them.
You forgot that Huel is relatively expensive. Maybe that would change if demand grew when there were major government programs for buying Huel for people in need. At least if Huel made it to scale up production - which is in no way easy; would you really manage to do that?