The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2016–2024
Allplants' £67M plant-based meal bet: 2024 administration, brand bought by Plants
London chef-made vegan ready-meal brand raised £67M, sold 6M meals in three months of retail, then hit administration in Nov 2024.
allplants
What the business is
London DTC brand that cooked chef-designed plant-based frozen ready meals in its own East London kitchen and sold them by subscription, then through more than 100 UK retailers.
How it started
Brothers Jonathan and Alex Petrides founded allplants in 2016, cooking plant-based meals in East London and delivering them directly to households. Their bet was that vegan eating was leaving the niche and that people would pay for convenient chef-made food that could convert flexitarians.
What happened
allplants raised £67M over eight years, including from investors such as footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs, and grew into what it described as Europe's largest plant-based kitchen. The November 2022 retail launch looked like validation: six million meals sold in three months across Ocado, Planet Organic and other stores. But the economics never followed: the company posted a £9.9M loss in the seven months to March 2023, which founder Jonathan blamed on inflation, post-Brexit supply-chain disruption and rising interest rates as the business shifted from growth toward profitability. The category also turned: Green Queen reported UK vegan ready-meal sales fell about 20% in 2023 amid a wider backlash against ultra-processed plant-based food.
How it ended up
With debts mounting and no buyer found, allplants gave notice that it would appoint administrators in November 2024. It entered administration, made 65 staff redundant, halted production in East London and ran a closing-down sale; Interpath Advisory was appointed to sell its assets, with investors facing losses of almost £70M. In February 2025, Deliciously Ella founders Ella and Matthew Mills bought the allplants brand name and associated assets out of administration under their Plants label.
Background
Brothers Jonathan and Alex Petrides founded allplants in 2016 in East London, cooking chef-designed plant-based ready meals and selling them direct to UK households. The bet was that vegan eating was moving mainstream and that people would pay a premium for convenient meals tasty enough to convert flexitarians.
The company raised £67M over eight years, including from investors such as footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs, and built what it called Europe's largest plant-based kitchen. Demand looked confirmed at its November 2022 retail debut with Ocado and Planet Organic: six million meals were sold within the first three months, and the range eventually reached more than 100 retailers.
The economics never followed. allplants recorded a £9.9M loss in the seven months to March 2023, which founder Jonathan blamed on inflation, post-Brexit supply-chain disruption and rising interest rates as the business shifted from growth to profitability. The wider category turned against it too: Green Queen reported UK vegan ready-meal sales fell about 20% in 2023 amid the ultra-processed-food backlash.
By late 2024 there was no rescue. allplants gave notice it would appoint administrators in November, entered administration, made 65 staff redundant and halted production in East London; backers faced losses of almost £70M. In February 2025, Deliciously Ella founders Ella and Matthew Mills bought the brand name and assets out of administration under their Plants label, saying the products would not simply relaunch as before.
What has to be true
- The whole model assumed category growth would keep funding scale; when UK vegan ready-meal sales fell about 20% in 2023, revenue turned down just as fixed costs peaked.
- A £9.9M loss in seven months to March 2023 showed the kitchen, frozen supply chain and retail expansion were running far ahead of what the brand could earn.
- Retail success read as validation, but supermarket pricing and own-brand competition left thin room to turn six million meals into profit.
- The anti-ultra-processed backlash tarred convenient vegan food precisely as allplants scaled into frozen ready meals.
What can be applied
A loved brand and real demand don't beat unit economics: inflation plus an anti-UPF backlash hit just as £67M of growth equity ran out — the brand survived, the company didn't.
Aftermath
Ella and Matthew Mills acquired the allplants brand name and associated assets out of administration in February 2025 under their Plants CPG label, with managing director Kerry Atack leading the refresh. They said they would use allplants' nearly 200,000 combined social followers to build a new natural plant-based brand rather than relaunch the old product line; founder Jonathan Petrides left the business. The old company's East London kitchen stayed closed, and its investors' roughly £70M was written down in the administration.
Sources
- Vegan ready meal brand Allplants falls into administration after mounting financial struggles
- Allplants: Deliciously Ella Founders Rescue Vegan Ready Meal Brand in Anti-UPF Push
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