Plant-based brand takes third bite of supermarket success following “outstanding” growth

The firm behind a “hyper-realistic” plant-based meat substitute will see its products stocked in hundreds of ASDA stores across the UK.

THIS will see products THIS isn’t Bacon and THIS isn’t Chicken Salt & Pepper pieces sold in 412 ASDA stores as part of a new deal with the supermarket giant.

Established in 2019 by Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman following their exit from beef burger chain Chosen Bun, THIS specialises in plant-based meat alternatives.

Having launched into Sainsbury’s two weeks ago and Tesco in June 2020, the national distribution deal with ASDA will make THIS available in three of the ‘big four’ supermarkets within a five month period.

Andy Shovel, co-founder of THIS, commented: “Launching into ASDA is a huge opportunity for us. The pandemic has definitely been a bit of a curveball but luckily people still like to eat.

“We’ve had to pivot our sales strategy from about 70 per cent retail and 30 per cent food service to mostly retail (85 per cent) - fortunately, the demand for plant-based foods has really surged during the pandemic.

“We want THIS to smash through the plant-based stereotypes and show meat-eaters that they really don’t need to compromise when it comes to plant-based food.

“We launched just over a year ago - myself and co-founder Pete definitely had less grey hair back then but, being able to grow at such speed makes it worth it.”

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