THIS Co-Founder shares their secret to making plant-based food that doesn’t suck - Andy Shovel

Updated: May 8th, 2023

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Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman co-founded THIS, a UK-based vegan food company, in 2019.

This is currently taking over supermarkets, with its products primarily marketed to meat eaters who want to embrace a vegan lifestyle.

It is UK’s fastest-growing meat substitute brand, and the company was recently valued at £150 million. The company’s annualized revenue has grown from 0 to £17.5 million with a 333% YoY growth in UK retail in just 3 years.

Initially, co-founders Andy and Pete weren’t originally interested in encouraging people to consume less meat. They had a successful beef burger business before THIS.

Andy sold his first firm at the age of 21. He had always known he wanted to start his own business. He found the direction he needed during an accidental visit to a newly opened restaurant.

Shovel and Sharman, who sold their former franchise of (actual) beef burger restaurants in 2016, now challenge the meat industry and have achieved incredible success as the market’s top vegan brand.

Plant-based alternatives were still a niche market when they began the funding process at the beginning of 2018. The future of THIS is promising as it has already attracted £21 million in funding.

This brand has over 10,000 retail distribution points in almost all of the largest UK retailers, and their production rate for recurring business is nearly twice as high as the industry standard.

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