Mighty Drinks hopes for rescue deal after calling in administrators

Mighty Drinks has collapsed into administration, with specialists at recovery firm Interpath searching to put together a rescue deal to save the milk alternatives brand.

Launched in April 2019 by brothers Tom and Nick Watkins, Leeds-based Watkins Drinks Ltd, trading as Mighty Drinks, appointed James Clark and Howard Smith from Interpath as joint administrators today (17 June 2025).

Its range of pea and oat-based milks are sold nationwide in the UK at supermarkets and health stores.

Like rivals in the plant-based food & drink sector, Mighty has faced numerous challenges in recent years, including spiking costs and falling demand from consumers looking to save money during the cost of living crisis.

Interpath said these headwinds impacted the company’s ability to scale and achieve profitability.

In response to these challenges, the directors of the Mighty Drinks sought to explore investment options but were unable to secure additional capital needed to keep trading as a going concern.

Filings at Companies House show Mighty notched up total losses of £12.1m up to the end of 2023, with the deficit widening by £3.4m in that year. And the business has raised more than £8m in funding over the years, including from the crowd and from the UK government’s Future Fund.

“There has been an increasing focus on profitability within all aspects of the ‘alt’ category, following the investment boom of a few years ago,” said Tom Swiers, food and drink sector lead at Interpath.

“It is no longer simply a case of ‘growth as number one priority’.

“The Mighty team has created a great product, with an exciting kids-milk range set to launch with retailers given the allergen free benefits of pea-protein, and a path to profitability from improved margins and increased volumes.

“Unfortunately, however, this has come at a point in the company’s cycle where it required further investment which was not forthcoming from typical investors in this space, nor was it attractive to typical ‘special situations’ investors given the relatively early stage of the company’s development.”

James Clark, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, added: “We will now work with the company’s stakeholders to explore the options available, including seeking offers for the business and its assets, including the Mighty brand and related intellectual property. We would invite any parties who may be interested in acquiring the business to make contact with us as soon as possible.”

Dairy alternatives headwinds

The oversaturated dairy alternatives drinks market has faced tough times over the past few years, with the likes of Nestlé and Innocent withdrawing products from the UK as following a slowdown in sales. Nestlé’s pea protein-based Wunda brand went on sale in supermarkets in 2021 before being pulled in 2023.

However, the slowdown in the category reversed in 2024 as oat milk emerged as favourite in coffee shops and rebounded in supermarkets, with leaders Alpro and Oatly registering gains in value, according to The Grocer Top Products report. Volumes in the category as a whole also rose 4.6% to 12.7 million litres sold [Kantar 52 w/e 24 December 2024].

Mighty Drinks history

Originally known as Mighty Pea, the brand launched a range of dairy-free alternatives made from yellow split peas. It quickly gained supermarket listings and was stocked by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Ocado, WH Smith and Holland & Barrett.

In 2020, the business secured more than £1m in funding from the government and existing investors to support distribution growth and international expansion, following earlier crowdfunding campaigns.

It won a place on the Tesco ‘Incubator Programme’ in 2021, boosting distribution further.

Mighty secured another £4.5m investment in 2021 to support innovation in fermentation-based plant milk, with backing coming from two of Germany’s leading brewing families, Bittburger Ventures and Schadeberg Family Office, joining other investors such as Beyond Impact, Veg Capital and Dohler Ventures.

It launched its new line-up of “next generation” plant-based drinks that “tastes, looks and feels like dairy milk” in 2022 under the M.lkology branding. It also expanded into oat milk powder in 2023.

The company employed about 20 staff at its peak in 2022 but The Grocer understands just a handful of staff remained as it entered administration.