In short
Bol Foods’ strategic pivot to 100% plant-based in 2017–2018, the backlash, and why sales collapsed.
Guest backgrounds
The speaker is a long-time food industry professional and Bol Foods decision-maker/leader (no other guests mentioned in the transcript).
Key claims
After watching Cowspiracy and reading Michael Greger’s How Not to Die, they felt “embarrassed” about their prior ignorance of industrial food impacts. They cite animal agriculture using “almost half the earth,” and that water used for “over two months of showering” equals one hamburger. They argue plant-based can match taste and nutrition (e.g., soups without chicken).
Notable examples
They stopped selling meat/fish lines, halved run rates overnight, investors were unhappy, and Tesco was surprised when they planned to replace top-selling recipes.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Decision to Go Plant-Based
0:00 to 2:14
Learn about the rationale and impact of Bol Foods' shift to a 100% plant-based menu.
“Where's the innovation and developing lines and there's obviously a point where the meat and the fish got turned off.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Where's the innovation and developing lines and there's obviously a point where the meat and the fish got turned off. Yeah. And probably from the outside, that looks like an unusual choice. Yeah. But what was the rationale behind that? Why did that come about? Well, it's definitely unusual because I did it in 2017, 18. First couple of years, we smashed all of our targets. We were profitable. and then I watched Cowspiracy, read books like Michael McGregor's How Not to Die and was pretty amazed that the negative impact the industrial food system is having on the planet. So almost half the earth in some way, shape or form is being used for animal agriculture.
0:46The amount of water we use for over two months of showering goes into one hamburger. So it was kind of like, oh, wow, a little bit embarrassed, to be honest with you. I've been working in the industry so long and I was so ignorant to some of this stuff. So for me, it wasn't unusual because it just reignited even more passion for, you know, we can make 100 % plant-based food. It's largely going to be loved by meat eaters. You know, I've got nothing but respect for, you know, vegans. But we're not about trying to make it easy for more vegans to eat more vegan food. We're about going, well, you can have an amazing soup.
1:25And the fact that it doesn't have chicken in it doesn't matter because it's going to have more nutrition in than any other prepared soup in the market. And it will go toe to toe from a taste perspective as well. So it was definitely not a decision that went down well with investors because we quite literally halved our run rates overnight. And it was a genuine strategic pivot. And even the likes of Tesco were pretty surprised when I was going in and saying, you know, these recipes that are selling really well, we're going to stop making those. And they were like, what are you going to replace them with?
1:58I was like, well, not worth it out yet, but give us a bit of time. We're going to innovate and we're going to do something. And then obviously, you know, from a timeline perspective, a few years after that COVID happened and the vegan movement really started to motor. I have said previously on interviews, I knew it was never going to last.
From the publisher
What does it really take to launch a food brand?
In this raw, honest conversation, Bol Foods founder Paul Brown breaks down the truth behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing healthy food brands - from near-death experiences, to leaving a stable job, to halving the business overnight to go fully plant-based.
Paul shares:
How he got his start at Innocent Drinks
His biggest lessons from 15 years in FMCG
Why funding is harder than most founders expect
What every entrepreneur should know before pitching supermarkets
Why getting on shelves is NOT success
The strategic risk that changed everything for Bol
What the future of healthy and natural food looks like
If you’re a founder, a foodie, or someone who cares about health, this is one of the most important episodes you’ll watch this year.
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