Deliciously Ella: Plant-Based Snacking Brand Acquired by Hero Group in Multimillion-Pound Deal

Swiss food manufacturer Hero Group has taken over vegan healthy eating brand Deliciously Ella, with owners Ella and Matthew Mills remaining at the company.

Deliciously Ella, the UK-based pioneer of vegan snacking, has been acquired by Hero Group, a Swiss food company that also owns British children’s snack brand Organix.

While the terms of the deal were undisclosed, it is expected to make millions of pounds for founder Ella Mills and her husband Matthew, who are both majority shareholders and will remain in the business under the new ownership.

The takeover will allow Hero to expand its presence in the UK, and enable Deliciously Ella to “reach millions more customers around the world” – the brand is set to enter the US with its oat bars through Whole Foods Market.

The deal comprises the Deliciously Ella recipe app, its branded products, and its factory near Milton Keynes, but does not include the recently launched Plants brand (which sells pantry staples like pasta and sauces, as well as kombucha and soups) or the Plants by DE restaurant in London – the latter two remain under the Millses’ ownership.

It means that seven Deliciously Ella employees will move across to work for the Plants brand, and the remaining 70 will join Hero. “This is a transformational moment in bringing our natural, plant-based ranges to more people, both in the UK and abroad,” Ella and Matthew said in a joint statement.

“As a family-owned business, with a long-term view that aligns with our thinking, Hero Group are the right fit for us,” they added.

Deliciously Ella had ‘numerous approaches’ to sell

Deliciously Ella began as a food blog in 2012 that Ella used to chronicle her recovery from an autoimmune disease by following a whole-food plant-based diet.

She tapped into her roots as a descendant of the Sainsbury family with her retail brand, which grew to a portfolio of over 100 products present in all major UK supermarkets. She has also authored eight cookbooks – her 2015 title Deliciously Ella became the fastest-selling debut cookbook in the UK at the time, while 2018’s Deliciously Ella: The Plant-Based Cookbook broke records as the fastest-selling vegan cookbook ever.

Ella has shifted more than 1.5 million copies of her recipe books, while her retail company has sold nearly 88 million units and is present in more than 10,000 stores across the UK and the EU – that equates to one Deliciously Ella product being purchased every second.

With her husband and business partner, she also opened three restaurants in London (two of which closed pre-pandemic). Plants by DE, in London’s Mayfair, initially struggled but has since been thriving.

The company generated around £24M ($31.7M) in revenue in its latest financial year, with a pre-tax profit of £1.8M ($2.4M). And to make things more efficient, it brought production in-house by buying a factory in Milton Keynes, which is now under Hero’s ownership.

“What started as a small recipe website and a cookbook has become something bigger than either of us could have imagined,” said the Mills couple. “We have had numerous approaches to sell or partner with other food companies over the years, but only this one felt right.”

They added: “Hero has brands all over the world and a proven track record in helping brands reach much greater scale.”

A major win for Ella Mills

“Our multi-year strategy has focused on bringing brands that fit within our core categories with the aim of fulfilling our mission to bring natural, healthy food to consumers,” said Hero CEO Rob Versloot. “Deliciously Ella is a perfect fit for us, and we are particularly happy to have them on board.”

The company owns a number of brands across the world, such as healthy snacking labels Corny and Hero B’tween, jam makers Queensberry, Schwartau and Vitrac, and baby food players Semper, Beech-Nut, Baby Gourmet, and Organix.

The deal marks a feather in the cap for Ella Mills, who for years faced turbulent struggles with online trolls and the challenges that come with owning a multichannel business while raising a young family. She has faced bullying over motherhood and eating disorders, which worsened her mental health. All this while two of her restaurants closed before the turbulence of Covid-19 and its lockdowns.

Deliciously Ella’s products are now in Switzerland, Ireland, Austria and Germany, with the move to the US impending. “We’re completely reliant on the business for our income,” Matthew told the Times. “We’ve had a personal guarantee on our house for eight years.”

He added: “We started talking in December of last year. Ella and I dated for about two months before we got married whereas we dated these guys for ten months before getting married. That’s a long time for us.”

Hero’s purchase of Deliciously Ella comes amid a flurry of M&A activity in the vegan sector, following a 24% dip in investments last year and a flatlining of sales globally. Wicked Kitchen was snapped up by the newly formed Ahimsa Companies in June, while VFC evolved into the Vegan Food Group to become a holding company that now includes Meatless Farm, Clive’s Purely Plants and Tofutown.

In the US, Superlatus agreed to buy plant-based dairy and egg startup Spero, months after it signed a deal to purchase precision fermentation dairy leader Perfect Day’s consumer arm The Urgent Company. And in Australia, All G Foods spun off its meat analogue brand Love Buds, which merged with Fenn Foods’ vEEF to form The Aussie Plant-Based Co.