Speaking to The Express, British plant-based ready meal brand BOL Foods has said that it is expecting its largest ever turnover of £24 million in 2023.
BOL claims it was the UK’s fastest-growing meat-free brand last year, spurred on by successful new product launches and two awards — a Grocer Gold and a Great Taste Award. The company is now working to increase the size of its team to 50.
A further sales boost is likely after a selection of BOL’s One Pot Meals and Power Soups launched at almost 2000 Co-op stores this January. These include Coconut Lentil Turmeric Daal, Spanish Butter Bean Stew, and Immune Boosting Butternut Squash & Chilli Soup.
The brand also has listings at Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose, and more, with its meals now available at 4,000 outlets nationwide.
Bouncing back
BOL Foods has had a focus on healthy meals since it was founded in 2015, but the brand has not always been fully plant-based. Meat was dropped from BOL’s products in 2017, followed by dairy in 2018. The company then launched a range of new vegan meals, such as Fire Roasted Cauliflower Tikka Masala, Soulful Tomato & Lentil Ragu Linguine, and Ultimate Shepherd’less Lentil Pie. Sustainable packaging made mostly from sugarcane was also introduced.
While BOL initially saw a drop in turnover following the transition, it has made a remarkable recovery, as evidenced by the fact that the brand is now available at almost every major UK supermarket chain.
“The Co-op partnership is a fantastic fit for BOL, as not only are we aligned on our focus to ‘do the right thing for the planet’ but we also over-index with the Co-op target shoppers: ‘foodies’ and ‘quick and easy’ shoppers looking for convenience,” Lucy Cowan, head of commercial at BOL Foods, told Retail Times. “We are confident that we will see the same success in Co-op as we’ve seen across the market; where BOL continues to be the fastest growing brand in plant-based, and most importantly delivers consistent growth for our retail partners, as three-quarters of our shoppers are incremental to the category.”
