Huel enters functional drinks and supplements

Diving deeper into

Huel

Company Report
This moves the company from the $9 billion global meal replacement market into the $45 billion functional drinks and supplements category
Analyzed 5 sources

The important shift is that Huel is no longer selling only complete meals, it is building a broader daily nutrition basket. A meal replacement powder is something a customer buys instead of lunch. Greens, protein tubs, vitamins drinks, and bars are things that can be added on top of breakfast, workouts, or snacks. That matters because it creates more purchase occasions per customer, opens more retail shelves, and lets Huel compete for routine wellness spending instead of only meal substitution.

  • Huel already has the product bridge into this bigger category. Complete Protein gives 20g of plant protein plus 27 vitamins and minerals per serving, and Daily Greens Ready-to-Drink launched in September 2025 as a 25 calorie canned greens drink with 42 vitamins, minerals, and superfoods, rolling into Target, Sprouts, Life Time Fitness, and Amazon.
  • The business model changes with the category. Powders are often subscription purchases used at home as meal replacements. Functional drinks and supplements sell in more impulse and routine contexts, gym coolers, vitamin aisles, checkout shelves, and convenience sets. Huel has already expanded to more than 25,000 retail locations globally, which makes those adjacencies easier to monetize.
  • Comparable brands show why this matters. Liquid Death grew by moving from plain water into tea, hydration sticks, and energy, which increased shelf presence and gave the brand more ways to win the same customer. Legendary Foods is doing a similar move in food by stretching from one protein snack format into pastries, donuts, chips, and mac and cheese.

Going forward, the biggest upside is that Huel can become a repeat purchase nutrition brand rather than a niche meal replacement brand. If more of the assortment shifts toward drinks, supplements, and snack adjacencies, Huel gets a larger share of wallet, broader retail distribution, and a path to growth that does not depend on persuading consumers to replace full meals every day.