Huel has introduced a lower-calorie version of its bestselling meal replacement drink.
Called Huel Lite, the NPD was developed after the supplier identified “a gap for people wanting something lighter” in the ready-to-drink meal category.
Bottles in Chocolate, Banana and Strawberry have landed in Sainsbury’s (rsp: £3.50/500ml). They will also launch in WH Smith and on Ocado in the coming weeks, and in Tesco next year.
They contain 26 essential vitamins and minerals, 25g of protein, 6g of fibre and only 190 calories per meal – compared to 400 calories in each bottle of Huel’s regular RTDs.
“As with all our innovations, Huel Lite started with listening to our customers,” Huel product marketing director Ali Gibbons said. “From Reddit to direct feedback, one theme came through loud and clear: every calorie counts when it comes to their nutrition.
“We combined those insights with wider health trends we’ve seen in the US and tasked our NPD team with creating a tasty, high-protein, complete meal – at just 190 calories. They’ve nailed it.”
Data: How weight loss drugs are impacting food and drink consumption in the UK
The complete meal category was now worth over £91m in retail sales value and growing at 77% year on year, said Huel sales director Natalie Stanton.
Huel was “leading the way” and responsible for 82% of total sales in the category, Stanton said, citing NIQ data.
But there was “still huge room for growth”, she insisted.
“Huel RTD Lite is our next step, helping us reach more customers who want nutrient-dense, high-protein, functional food with fewer calories. We’re excited to be rolling this out with our retail partners over the next six months.”
It comes amid the rising use of weight-loss drugs in the UK. According to Worldpanel data, the number of households containing a GLP-1 user has nearly doubled in the past year – from 2.3% to 4.1% of households.
In households with at least one member taking GLP-1s, there was an average reduction of 5.5% on how much they spent on groceries within the first six months of adoption, a figure that rose to 8.6% across higher-income households, the Worldpanel data revealed.
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