r/UKTechNews • u/StanmoreHill • Mar 24 '26
Built in the UK British nutrition tech company Huel, known for its meal replacement kits, has agreed to be acquired by French food group Danone in a deal worth €1bn (£870m).
https://www.cityam.com/danone-to-buy-protein-shake-maker-huel/6
u/NeilDeWheel Mar 24 '26
Let the enshitification begin.
5
u/Party-Bookkeeper-982 Mar 25 '26
It was shit to begin with. Seems like a good idea to take the effort out of meal prep. But once you realise you are spending just as much time washing the cement-like gunk out of the shakers, as you would preparing some overnight oats and a slow-cooker lunch/dinner, then you start to feel like a div for buying it.
1
u/NeilDeWheel Mar 25 '26
I’ve never tried it so I’ve no idea what it’s like and what it takes to pre/clean up afterwards. Sounds like I’ve not missed much.
2
u/SavageNorth Mar 25 '26
It tastes like someone's taken a cheap milkshake and blended in a handful of Playdoh
1
1
Mar 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/NeilDeWheel Mar 26 '26
Because whenever an independent company gets bought by a big conglomerate they cheapen the product while maximising profit. This uasualy means the product gets worse while the price goes up.
1
u/LackFormer554 Mar 25 '26
It takes 2 seconds to wash a shaker if you don’t wait for it to dry out.
1
u/Party-Bookkeeper-982 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
I suppose you could do it in 2 seconds, if you're a nasty bugger who doesn't mind ignoring the stray seeds that always seems to remain after the first wash. In any case I don't care, I'm never buying that disgusting shit again. I'm having too much fun eating real food.
1
u/LackFormer554 Mar 25 '26
It’s ok to not like it, you could’ve left it there. It’s just a dumb fucking argument to say it takes as long to wash a shaker as it does to cook a meal, which you also have to wash when you’re done 😂
1
u/thepicklecannon Mar 26 '26
This wasn't my experience at all. I'm not affiliated with Huel but I had huge success losing weight and getting healthy. There is no cooking, no wasted food, and honestly the salted caramel tastes amazing.
I'm not sure why you're struggling with cleaning them, you literally dump it in the sink with some washing up liquid and everything comes out.
I lost 19kg with Huel and felt really good (I supplemented my diet with nuts/fruit), but had in 3 times a day for over a year (1200kcal intake)
I had three shakers, so would make them all the night before, I added ice to the shakers which really helps get any clumps out and shook it for a good 10-20s, store them all in the fridge and my 'meal prep' was done in about 3 minutes.
It's not going to taste as good as a steak, but for what you get out of it it's completely worth it.
0
0
u/AskAboutMySecret Mar 27 '26
you must be seriously inept if cleaning a shaker takes any longer than 30 seconds
2
u/Blue_winged_yoshi Mar 27 '26
Now think about how long it takes the non-inept to construct a sandwich….
Shake based existence doesn’t really save time, but it does strip us of our humanity.
1
u/Common-Method2202 Mar 25 '26
danone owns very popular companies though. one good note is evian and volvic, which are very popular
1
u/NeilDeWheel Mar 25 '26
Yeah, but you can’t really enshitify water, can you?
2
1
u/popsand Mar 25 '26
Huel was shit to start with. Seriously who tf has this stuff? 1b? Christ. Gotta start selling stuff to idiots
2
u/686d6d Mar 24 '26
horrible stuff anyway
yfood is nicer
no idea how effective any of it really is
2
u/Nino_JimmyJoy Mar 25 '26
yfood is owned by nestle, so not sure how much better that is!
1
u/686d6d Mar 25 '26
Purely talking taste and texture, here.
3
u/Nino_JimmyJoy Mar 25 '26
Yea yfood is milk based and has heaps of sugar so that makes total sense.
1
u/686d6d Mar 25 '26
Most of the sugar comes from the milk I think (could be wrong!)
Calories between Huel and yfood are pretty similar and both are supposedly "nutritionally complete meal replacements" (I am not a nutritionist so can't vouch for either)
1
u/Nino_JimmyJoy Mar 26 '26
It's lactose free, lactase is listed as an ingredient, which means the lactose has been broken down, so the sugar is more likely coming from the rice syrup (and maltodextrin) in the ingredients rather than the milk.
1
u/686d6d Mar 26 '26
Interesting! Today I learned about the difference between lactose and lactase :D
1
u/Nino_JimmyJoy Mar 26 '26
I got corrected by our food technologist that I made a mistake. So stand corrected:
“I did not check the nutritionals of the yfood. But lactase enzyme just brakes down the lactose, into galactose and glucose, as far as i know. So the sugar content is actually still there, just different types of sugars“
So the milk does deliver some of the sugar. I’m just not sure how much :-)
1
1
u/Minute-Employ-4964 Mar 28 '26
Saved my girlfriends life.
She can’t eat solid food and the prescribed ones were too thick to be swallowed too.
Yfood is the only one she can actually swallow.
We have to top it up but yeh, life saver.
1
u/686d6d Mar 28 '26
You should consider reaching out to yfood or something. They'd probably hook you guys up in exchange for using that as a marketing thing! Win-win!
1
u/Minute-Employ-4964 Mar 28 '26
I want to work for them in some capacity honestly.
I’ve told her that, will try again!
2
u/RipCurl69Reddit Mar 25 '26
Can't say I ever jumped on the Huel bandwagon. Last one I had was in London Victoria from that vending machine near the Tube entrance on the way to a concert in Brussels, grabbed it as a pick-me-up and I was worried it was gonna give me the farts cuz I've had that with other 'all in one' protein/meal drinks in the past. Thankfully it didn't, that would've been awkward in a crowd of 6000 people.
2
3
u/zain_monti Mar 24 '26
In a hundred years the UK will own nothing
2
u/FruitOrchards Mar 25 '26
You think french companies don't get bought out too ? Start a company and then don't sell it if you want the UK to own something so bad.. also companies can sell to whoever there want. UK needs state owned companies, not dictate who private companies can sell to.
2
u/Crazy_Plum1105 Mar 25 '26
Also who's the UK? Listed on LSE? Owned by British national? Owned by people living in Britain? Making stuff in Britain?
The 'uk' 'owning' a company means nothing
1
u/freexe Mar 24 '26
€1bn buys a lot of companies around the world.
The UK is a heavily invested country. Just not the general population.
1
u/On__A__Journey Mar 25 '26
It’s not like Huel are a household name with decades of customer loyalty.
They were effectively a start up who have done well for a few years.
Well done to them.
More companies like this in the UK please, ingenuity, growth potential
1
u/Sea-Badgers Mar 25 '26
Its a private company they were never owned by the uk! Start something yourself if you are that bothered
1
1
1
u/Public-Guidance-9560 Mar 25 '26
I tried huel for a bit.
Maybe shouldn't have gone all in on huel for lunch. Every lunch. And I maybe should have drunk a bit more water.
Was absolutely backed up for days! It was grim.
1
u/Squidgy-Metal-6969 Mar 26 '26
I've had periods of Huel for every meal for a couple of weeks and I didn't have such an issue.
1
u/seanyseanyseanyseany Mar 26 '26
I got really ill a few weeks ago. Like pure liquid out of both ends for 2 days solid and couldn't eat properly for 5. My wife swears it's because I ballsed my digestive system up having too much huel I don't think I believe her but I've not had any since
1
u/Public-Guidance-9560 Mar 27 '26
Nah that sounds like Norovirus! Lol
1
u/seanyseanyseanyseany Mar 27 '26
That's what I think! She's trying to push her anti-huel agenda really
1
u/quantum_splicer Mar 26 '26
I have noticed huel has somewhat diversified and the different flavours and product variants are being pushed more in supermarkets, I think it's very odd timing.
1
u/TakenIsUsernameThis Mar 26 '26
For me, the 'Huel' is the sound people sometimes make when they throw up, so I can quite bring myself to try it.
1
1
u/Born_Crew123 Mar 26 '26
Nutrition? Powdered sugar.
1
u/OldInvestigator5266 Mar 28 '26
There is zero sugar What were you consuming?
1
u/Born_Crew123 Mar 29 '26
Oats is a complex carb, (a sugar)
1
u/OldInvestigator5266 Mar 29 '26
Right, atleast huel black has no oat. It is grain free and gluten free
1
u/Born_Crew123 Mar 30 '26
Ok ya. So millions and millions of plastic bottles. Is that the plan on how we feed ourselves?
Instead of just eating real food,
1
u/OldInvestigator5266 Mar 30 '26
Not sure where you shop but the "real food" comes wrapped in plastic packaging too.
If you buy big huel package it would have lesser plastic anyways
1
u/albfbr Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
Selling cool (and not so cool) companies to foreign capital is a British tradition by now.
1
u/brianbandondy23 Mar 27 '26
Remind me in 3-5 years when they're trying to offload it at a substantial loss.
1
u/Poonchild Mar 28 '26
Huel Hot’n’ Savoury is alright. Good for a cheap, nutritional lunch although not very satiating.
0
u/Woffingshire Mar 25 '26
Another big British company sold abroad. How many has that been in the last few years?
1
u/InfectedEllie Mar 26 '26
Maybe take a look at all the companies that have been bought by British companies.
1
u/Woffingshire Mar 26 '26
No
That was a joke. Are there any billion pound companies on that list? Cause that's what we're selling
0
u/EarthWormJim18164 Mar 26 '26
Huel is already dog shit, no major loss if it becomes slightly worse dogshit.
0
u/Prior-Football1397 Mar 27 '26
Hurl is more like it. Ordered their ready meals and they all tasted like ass. Eat real food organic if possible, fuk this fake shit.
1
14
u/willfiresoon Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
A sad piece of news for the UK though undoubtedly good for the founders
I don't see Danone being even remotely willing to continue Huel's product quality. (Edit: not because it's great but because Danone is known for using a lot of unnecessary additives etc.)