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Welcome to Cutting Through The Fog.
Each week I share the thinking and frameworks I’ve used (and learned the hard way) to help you build with more clarity, more momentum, and fewer avoidable mistakes.
This week I want to talk about a deal that most people read as a big exit story. It isn't. It's a fear story. And the implications for anyone building, investing in, or working inside the food industry are significant.
KEY INSIGHTS THIS WEEK
Danone's acquisition of Huel for £865M is not just about Huel. It's about what Danone is scared of.
GLP-1 drugs are suppressing appetite at scale. The food industry knows it, and the smart money is repositioning now.
The brands that survive what's coming are the ones that understand what they're really selling, and to whom.
Huel is a masterclass in building something real before scaling it. The founder stayed the largest shareholder at exit. That rarely happens by accident.
Let that number sit for a moment
£865 million. For a business that started selling pouches of nutritionally complete powder online. No retail presence at launch. No celebrity founders. No early hype machine. Just a product built around a real and specific consumer need, grown patiently over time.
Julian Hearn founded Huel in 2015. He didn't raise enormous rounds early. He didn't give the business away to get there. He remained the largest shareholder at exit. That only happens when you build with discipline and stay in control of the equity. It's rarer than it should be, and it's worth noting.
As a standalone founder story, it's a good one. But the reason Danone paid £865 million isn't just because Huel is a great brand with strong revenues. It's because Danone is scared. And it's worth understanding exactly what they're scared of.
The real reason for the deal
The Grocer reported it plainly: this acquisition is Danone future-proofing against the rise of GLP-1 drugs.
GLP-1 drugs, originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, are now being prescribed at scale for weight loss. Ozempic, Wegovy, and their successors are suppressing appetite in millions of people in a way that nothing before them has managed. People on GLP-1 drugs eat less. Significantly less. They snack less. They crave less. Their relationship with food changes.
A €27 billion food company just spent close to a billion pounds because it looked at that trend and asked: if millions of people stop eating the way they currently do, what does that mean for our portfolio? The answer, apparently, was uncomfortable enough to trigger a major acquisition.
Because Huel fits perfectly into a GLP-1 world. Low calorie, nutritionally complete, convenient. If you're eating less, you still need to eat well. You still need protein, fibre, micronutrients. You just need less volume. Huel answers that. It was built for people who want to eat functionally, not hedonistically. That positioning, which looked niche in 2015, looks prescient in 2026.
What this means for the food industry
The ripple effects of GLP-1 on the food industry are only just beginning, and most of the industry is not having this conversation loudly enough.
The categories most exposed are the ones built on high-volume, high-calorie consumption: snacking, confectionery, sugary drinks, ultra-processed convenience food. These categories were engineered, deliberately and successfully, to override the body's natural appetite signals. GLP-1 drugs restore those signals. The products that relied on those signals being suppressed are going to face a structural headwind that no amount of reformulation will fully resolve.
The categories that benefit are the ones aligned with functional nutrition: high protein, nutrient-dense, low calorie, genuinely satiating. Not because GLP-1 users are a niche, but because they represent the leading edge of a broader shift in what people want from food. Less, but better. Fewer calories, but more nutrients. Less indulgence, more intention.
Big Food knows this. The Danone deal is one data point. There will be more.
GLP-1: The Appetite Economy
I've spent the last several months making a documentary about this. Not the medical story, though the medicine matters. The food industry story. What GLP-1 means for the people building brands, running categories, and making investment decisions in food right now.
To make it, I spoke to a doctor prescribing GLP-1 drugs and watching his patients' relationship with food change in real time. A patient living that change from the inside. A nutritionist working through what it means to eat well on a suppressed appetite. Two food entrepreneurs whose categories sit squarely in the crosshairs. And food innovators having built and already building for the world that's coming.
It's coming out next week.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.
THE TAKE
If you're building in food and drink right now, here is the question worth sitting with:
Is my brand built around a consumer need that gets stronger in a world where people eat less but need more nutritional value from every mouthful, or is it built around a consumption pattern that GLP-1 is actively working against?
That's not a comfortable question for a lot of brands. But it's the right one to ask.
Final thought
The food industry spent decades making food irresistible. A drug has arrived that makes it resistible again.
The brands that thrive in what comes next will be the ones that were building for real consumer needs all along, not the ones that were engineering around appetite.
Huel didn't see GLP-1 coming. But it was built for the world GLP-1 is creating. That's not luck. That's what building something real looks like.
