Why food subscriptions are back on the menu

But even though purse-strings remain tight, subscriptions are making a comeback. So, amid this renaissance, how is the food and drink subscription model faring? How are brands convincing consumers to not just sign up, but stick around? And as they take off again, how are industry attitudes changing?

Spend on subscriptions of all types has increased by 47.5% since just before the first lockdown, according to Barclaycard data. Some nine in 10 (88%) consumers are now signed up to at least one subscription. Among this group, the average monthly spend on subscriptions is £50.60.

According to research by Revolut in May, Brits have 3.1 subscriptions on average, the number higher among millennials and Gen Z. Across the UK, there are approximately 155 million active subscriptions, according to government figures, representing consumer spend of approximately £26bn per year. These numbers are rapidly increasing, it says.

It is nearly two decades since Amazon launched its Subscribe & Save offering, with a simple promise: “If you want to save money on products you regularly buy and save time by not having to continually reorder them, Amazon Subscribe & Save is for you.”

Even though the e-commerce giant was last month accused in a US lawsuit of quietly jacking up the prices of customers’ recurring product orders, the convenience of ‘set and forget’ clearly has its place.

“Replenishment makes intuitive sense for coffee or everyday essentials — the logic is obvious,” says Emily Shaw, CEO of DTC e-commerce agency Tribe. Indeed, the bestselling Subscribe & Save products on Amazon UK include toilet paper, cat litter, batteries, wet wipes and dog waste bags.

“But we’re now seeing subscription work in categories you wouldn’t traditionally associate with it,” Shaw adds. “The product has to genuinely stand up, but if it does and there’s a fiercely loyal fanbase around it, subscription stops being a repeat purchase tool and becomes something closer to a membership.”

That members’ club approach is being taken at Bold Bean Co, where subscriber numbers have increased by 36% year on year and are “still gaining momentum”, according to Louisa Sorensen, head of marketing and campaigns at the bean brand. Sorensen puts it down to getting the fundamentals right.

“The subscriptions that have found it the hardest are those where convenience was the whole story, because convenience alone isn’t enough to keep people,” she says. “Food subscriptions built around, and for, a passionate community, plus a product people genuinely love, are a different proposition entirely.

“Subscribers expect to feel like they’re part of something, not just on a billing cycle. The discount alone doesn’t cut it any more.”

This community-building element is crucial for giving consumers a reason to subscribe beyond saving a few pounds, agrees Pip & Nut’s Hiblen.

“Discounts are a reason to start a subscription, but it’s other tactics that provide a reason to stay,” he says.

“Omnichannel brands are often discount-led and the danger is that by providing a subscription discount you’re merely moving a customer from one channel to the next whenever a discount is available. Establishing genuine intent to subscribe versus opportunistic discount-chasing is crucial. The value-add beyond the discount is what’s most interesting to us right now.”

The hope is that value-add will help drive Pip & Nut’s ambition for 42% of DTC orders to come from subscriptions this year, up from 25% in 2025. That’s important because subscribers are higher value and pay off acquisition costs 50%  faster than non-subscribers.

Food & drink brands are also emphasising flexibility and ease of quitting to lower the barrier to sign-up. More than half (53%) of Brits spend money on subscriptions they admit to not using, according to Revolut research. Procrastination and FOMO is the reason a third continue to shell out on subscriptions they don’t want; a fifth simply forget; while nearly a quarter report difficulty in the cancellation process thanks to services ‘making it difficult’ (13%) or people finding the process ‘too much hassle’ (11%).

“Hold those who are most engaged close and learn everything you can about them”

Sarah Vachon, Citizens of Soil

In April, the government “cracked down on unwanted and misleading subscriptions”, introducing measures to make it “simpler and far less painful to escape” them. The approach is working.

“Customers expect full flexibility – the ability to pause, skip or cancel anytime is a non-negotiable,” Hiblen says. “In providing this, brands must have faith that their product is strong enough to drive true brand love and repeat purchase, otherwise the economics just don’t work out.”

After all, the inability to pause or skip a subscription was cited by 27% of respondents to a Sticky.io poll last year as a reason to cancel. Some 23% said the inability to change subscription frequency was a reason to unsubscribe.

Sustainable subscriptions

Flexibility, it turns out, is only half the battle. As Shaw says: “Sustainable subscription in food & drink now means the customer chooses to stay, not just fails to cancel. That requires a product with genuine repurchase logic, flexible management and proactive retention design, not reactive discount-throwing when someone tries to cancel.”

That shifts the focus from acquisition at any cost to retention. The old strategy of “get subscribers on; worry about keeping them later”, as Shaw puts it, has been replaced.

“The sentiment now is almost the inverse,” she explains. “Retention is being treated with the same rigour, resource and commercial attention as acquisition. The brands winning are the ones who’ve accepted that the post-purchase journey is just as important as the funnel that got someone there in the first place.”

At olive oil brand Citizens of Soil, the ethos is “surprise and delight”, says co-founder Sarah Vachon. The brand has been adding one-off items – such as ceramic bottles for decanting olive oil – into the subscription mix, alongside seasonal drops, limited-edition flavours and brand collaborations.

Pip & Nut also uses free gifts, merchandise, brand partner discounts, early access to new product launches and more exclusive communications, including access to founders, at “key churn risk points”.

Similarly, at Bold Bean Co, “it’s the added value that makes a difference and keeps people – the content, the community, the exclusive gifts, the chance to offer feedback”.

This kind of direct relationship with customers also means brands can increase loyalty at next to no cost. It can be as simple as “just talk to them”, says Vachon.

“When you’re just starting out and you don’t have the cash to treat or gift them, simply reach out and chat,” she says. “Be kind in your comms, call them when you can, go back to negative reviews to use them as a chance to educate or learn, and just make an effort to let them know how much you appreciate their support. Hold those who are most engaged close and learn everything you can about them.”

At its simplest, it’s about treating long-term customers “as insiders rather than just another order in the queue”, Shaw says.

 Perhaps more significantly, food & drink brands managing to grow a loyal legion of subscribers have changed their attitude to the model.

“Our shift from supplying regular refills of olive oil to offering customers a membership to our Olive Oil Club was a significant milestone,” says Vachon. “Calling it a ‘club’ shifted it into a membership community and out of a standard sub. It not only changed the perception of our customers, it also changed how we viewed the experience we wanted to give them.”

Sorensen says Bold Bean Co has gone down a similar path: “The most impactful thing we’ve done is treat the subscription as an experience worth investing in, not just a billing mechanism.”

There’s also been a change in how businesses consider their subscription models in their big-picture plans. It used to be that they were chiefly a proof point to take to a supermarket buyer to help achieve the main goal of a supermarket listing.

But it is no longer considered just a stepping stone to ‘real’ retail; it’s now a crucial sales channel in its own right. Shaw advises clients to think of DTC, subscriptions and retail listings as “complementary rather than sequential”.

“A healthy subscription base is a commercial asset in its own right – predictable revenue, rich first-party data and a direct relationship that retail will never give you,” she adds. “The subscriber base funds the brand-building that gets you on to a shelf. And once you’re on the shelf, DTC is how you protect your margin and maintain your community.”

For Sorensen, a subscription is where the brand builds its best relationships with customers. “It’s our loyalty model, our feedback loop and the place where real bean obsessives live,” she says. “Retail gives us scale, DTC gives us relationships/advocacy. Those are two very different approaches, but they’re equally important models that can live alongside each other.”

There are huge challenges ahead for the model, particularly around increased customer acquisition costs. Meta’s latest earnings report shows a 14% increase in the average cost per ad served in Europe last year. Google Ads costs have surged, too, with 87% of sectors seeing higher cost-per-click rates, according to LocalIQ analysis.

But it’s worth it. After all, getting subscriptions right can mean a brand wins the loyalty of a high-value customer and brand champion for years to come.

As subscriptions numbers and revenues grow, the question is: “Are we giving our customers something they can’t get from other retailers or supermarkets?” says Hiblen. “That’s what we have to ask ourselves.”