Heura: Spain’s Plant-Based Meat Alternative Enters UK Market

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Heura has launched its ‘plant-based’ chicken in the UK – at two of the leading retailers for healthy and sustainable eating — The Vegan Kind and Planet Organic.

Founded in 2017, the brand provides one of the plant-based market’s healthiest options, containing the same amount of protein as chicken with only 1/3 of the fat (100% vegetable original chicken bites, Mediterranean chicken bites and strips). 

Heura’s 100% plant-based chicken is made from European soy, olive oil, salt, and spices.

Marc Coloma, a co-founder at Heura, is a long-time animal rights activist, who is passionate about accelerating the protein transition. He sees the UK market as a huge opportunity, at a time when demand for ‘clean’ vegan products is increasing. Heura’s products contain fewer ingredients than the market average.

“The UK is the fastest-growing plant-based food market in Europe, and coupled with Heura’s growth it means this is the right time for us to enter the UK market. We trust in the outstanding nutritional value of our products: our products have a clean label, are among the healthiest available, and our Mediterranean heritage means that we are the only plant-based meat made with olive oil,” said Marc Coloma, the CEO and co-founder of Heura.

The UK has the fastest-growing vegan market in Europe. A recent survey by a market research company, Mintel – suggests that Covid-19 could give further impetus for plant-based diets, with 25% of young British millennials saying the pandemic has made a vegan diet more appealing.  

The survey also found that a vegan diet was proving to be more attractive to over one in ten (12%) Brits, overall. One in five have already reduced their meat consumption during lockdown.

According to Mintel, the UK’s plant based market is expected to reach £1.1 billion by 2023. This puts the UK ahead of it’s close neighbours, like Germany, making the UK market a key target for Heura.

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In 2018, the British market became the country with the highest number of new vegan food products launched, with trends indicating that by 2025 almost half of the country’s population will become ‘flexitarian.’

According to more data from Mintel, 65% of the British population consumes plant-based meat, an increase of 30% from 2017. This demonstrates that consumers are increasingly changing their purchasing behaviour and gravitating towards a more sustainable and ethical alternative.

With a growth of 460% in the last year, Heura is the fastest growing 100% plant-based meat company in Europe. It already has a presence in nine countries, including: Spain, Andorra, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Chile.

In Heura’s first three years, the company has already saved the equivalent amount of water used to fill 570,930 Olympic swimming pools, over 3.6 million kg of CO2 emissions and over 460 soccer stadiums of crop land.

Overall, the brand’s mission is to create solutions that make the current food system obsolete and accelerate the transition to a world in which animals are out of the protein production equation.

You can find out more about Heura here.