In 2004, Leon was born out of frustration with unhealthy options on the market, but it has since evolved in both its offering and its ownership
Leon has long been considered a healthier fast-food option, but co-founder Henry Dimbleby has suggested its traditional brand ethos of 'delicious food that is convenient and healthy' is slipping under its Asda ownership.
Dimbleby, also the government's former food tsar and author of the 2020 National Food Strategy report, aired his views with regard to a Leon social media post featuring chips in an air fryer.
“I know how easy it is to be sucked down into just going for the thing that’s tasty, the sugar, the salt, something that’s cheap,” Dimbleby told The Telegraph last week. “What they’ve gone to here is they’ve realised chips sell, air fryers sell – that’s the cheapest way to make money. But in the long term, that’s going to destroy the brand.”
So what’s changed for Leon, and is it really in jeopardy under Asda?
Leon was sold to EG Group in 2021 following financial struggles during the pandemic. Two years later, Asda acquired it as part of a wider deal in which the supermarket took over most of EG’s UK operations.
It was an acquisition that “raised an eyebrow”, says Clive Black, head of consumer research at Shore Capital.
“Asda is a mid-to-lower income value-based superstore group, whilst Leon is a mid-to-upper income food-to-go label,” he says. “It is not that those on lower incomes are not interested in diet and health or the provenance of food – it is often that such goods as Leon have traditionally sold are beyond their price band.
“Hence, there was always a chance that Leon could be a square peg in a round hole in the Asda ecosystem.”
Leon continues to offer health-focused salads, wraps and rice bowls, and according to GlobalData consumer analyst Ramsay Baghdadi these products are still in demand. Leon’s salads and sides segment has “emerged as a focal point, boasting a penetration rate of 7.23%”, Baghdadi says.
However, alongside these, Leon has added chicken nuggets, cakes and cookies to its menu, and expanded its grocery range with microwaveable pouches, waffle fries and nuggets.
It’s one way to appeal to a wider market, and there may be a need to, with Leon posting a 3.9% drop in sales to £62.5m in 2024 as the “challenging” UK economy impacted consumer spending.
But these are not the only menu changes. According to GlobalData, the number of fruit-based offerings has dipped by 0.54%, alongside “very stagnant” (0.99%) growth of its vegetable, dairy and meat substitute menu items.
Leon insists its mission to ‘make fast food good food – delicious, affordable, and better for you’, “hasn’t changed”.
“Every season we create menus centred around plants and more recently protein, designed to make it easy for everyone to eat well whilst on the go, while still leaving room for joy,” says a spokesperson.
'Emotional' connection
As co-founder, “Dimbleby is emotionally involved in Leon, albeit not enough to not sell the firm,” says Black. “He can be nostalgic, but he has made his dosh, and it is Asda that is in charge now.”
Howard Lake notes that before Asda, “EG was already working with the likes of KFC and Greggs – neither of which are exactly renowned for their zeal around healthy eating". If Dimbleby believes so strongly in retaining the original Leon mission, perhaps that should have been given more weight in his “due diligence on the buyers”, Lake adds.
But Lake concedes that brand identity is “paramount” and Dimbleby’s comments “speak to his disappointment in what he sees as the brand’s devaluation”.
“You don’t have to look too deep into online discussions to find a majority of once-regular Leon customers expressing dissatisfaction with the business pre- and post-takeover,” Lake adds.
Sell or evolve?
Lake argues that Asda and Leon may simply be a bad fit. “The combined Asda/EG/TDR business feels like it has too many moving parts as it stands, and remains heavily debt-burdened, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the owners start looking to streamline the business soon – if only to make the whole thing easier to manage. In that scenario, Leon would likely be among the first underperforming pieces to be divested.”
Black underlines that Leon hasn’t moved away from its healthier ethos entirely under Asda. But ultimately, the brand “has to stand for something”, he says.
“Possibly” it has to “evolve in a way that works for the core Asda customer base if it is to flourish”, Black says.
But that is an approach fraught with danger. “If Asda evolves the offer and brand positioning to more of a midpoint, where the likes of Burger King, McDonalds et al live, that could ostracise existing Leon customers and not attract new ones and/or those shopping elsewhere in that congested mid-market.”
“If it loses loyal shoppers and does not replace them, the brand will wilt.
“Whatever the new identity is going to be, it needs to carefully evolve if Leon is not to become something that folks remember,” Black concludes.
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