Weekly Digest #23

05.01.2026

Welcome to The Fork’s Lens

Every week, we serve up a quick, flavourful dose of what’s cooking at the intersection of food, drink, and entrepreneurship.

Expect:

🍴 Sharp founder insights

📊 Bite-sized industry trends

🛠 Tools & tips to level up

🔥 Events & openings worth your time

For those of you building food brands, launching products, or just hungry for what’s next – this one’s for you.

Veganuary, Value & Victory

📨 Weekly #23: Veganuary, Value & Victory

🔎 Before We Start This Veganuary Edition

Just a quick note on what Veganuary actually is. Veganuary encourages people to try a vegan diet for the month of January. It started in the UK in 2014 and has grown into a major moment for brands and retailers, with more than 700,000 global sign-ups in 2024. For many brands, it is about trial, testing and reaching the flexitarian shopper.

🍴 What’s Up?

Veganuary is no longer about who can shout vegan the loudest. It is about converting flexitarians, holding price, and surviving the post-January shelf review. Retailers are tightening ranges and shoppers are demanding value and protein.

🇬🇧 UK F&B Headlines

• Veganuary participation remains high but growth has plateaued
  Veganuary recorded more than 700,000 global sign-ups, with the UK as its largest market, but over 30 percent of UK households now identify as flexitarian, pushing retailers toward curated ranges.
  

• Quorn focuses on core range to defend category leadership
  Quorn delivered around £205 million in UK retail sales and is prioritising flagship Pieces and Mince SKUs rather than launching new formats.
  

• Retailers continue to delist underperforming plant-based SKUs
  Tesco and Sainsbury’s have confirmed smaller Veganuary ranges this year, with post-January delists increasingly driven by velocity and repeat purchase.

🌍 Global F&B Moves

• Beyond Meat continues to retrench amid falling revenues
  Beyond Meat reported FY2024 revenues of roughly $343 million, down from $464 million in 2021, alongside headcount reductions and some international manufacturing exits.
  

• Nestlé reinforces commitment to next-generation dairy
  Nestlé remains invested in precision-fermentation player Perfect Day, highlighting alternative dairy as a long-term strategic pillar.
  

• Starbucks expands olive oil coffee concept into new markets
  Starbucks has rolled out its Oleato olive oil coffee range into markets including Italy and Japan, citing higher average transaction values.
  
  

🆕 Veganuary Special: New Product Launches to Watch

• Allplants expands tofu and tempeh range
  Allplants has launched new tofu and tempeh products to meet growing demand for simple wholefood plant proteins.
  

• Candy Kittens launches Cheaper Smitten exclusively at Tesco
  Candy Kittens has introduced a lower-priced vegan sweet at Tesco to defend volume amid rising confectionery prices.
  

• SimplyCity enters retail for the first time with Waitrose launch from 2 January
  SimplyCity has secured its first retail listing at Waitrose, moving from foodservice and DTC into scalable grocery distribution.
  

• Richmond launches vegetable-based sausage line
  Richmond has added veg-forward sausages to appeal to flexitarian shoppers seeking lighter options.
  

• Juicy Marbles launches Umami Burgers into Tesco
  Juicy Marbles has brought its premium Umami Burgers to Tesco, testing mass appeal for its restaurant-style positioning.

📊 Trend Watch: What Veganuary Really Signals Now

Flexitarians drive most plant-based revenue, price and protein remain the biggest levers, and Veganuary has become a commercial stress test rather than a marketing moment. This means it is less about a passing fad or marketing hype and more about testing whether brands can convert occasional flexitarian shoppers, sustain repeat purchase, manage price sensitivity, and secure long-term shelf space. Veganuary reveals which products and brands are resilient enough to survive beyond January hype.

💭 The Fork and The Flame

Veganuary is not a trend. It is a stress test.

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About Forks & Founders
We believe bold food brands deserve bold support. That’s why we’ve built a collective of seasoned foodies, retail rebels, creative storytellers, and numbers nerds – people who’ve been in the kitchen, the boardroom, and the shop floor. We jump in where you need us most, helping you turn big ideas into bites people can’t stop talking about. Because building a food brand isn’t just business – it’s passion, flavour, and a little bit of chaos. We’re here to make sure it’s the good kind.