Nestle Buys Out Yfood Founders in First Acquisition for New CEO

Philipp Navratil, chief executive officer of Nestle SA Photo by Jose Sarmento Matos /Photographer: Jose Sarmento Mato

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(Bloomberg) — Nestle SA is taking full control of ready-to-drink meal maker yfood Labs GmbH, bolstering the company’s push to focus on faster-growing brands, according to people familiar with the matter. 

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The Swiss foodmaker, which acquired a 49% stake in Munich-based yfood in 2023, is buying out founders Noel Bollmann and Benjamin Kremer for an undisclosed sum, said the people asking not to be named discussing confidential matters. The deal values yfood at around €450 million ($523 million), they added. 

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Bollmann and Kremer set up yfood in 2017 while working in the financial industry after spotting a gap in the market for healthy and quick meal alternatives when working long hours in the office. Instead of reaching for a chocolate biscuit or a packet of chips, they wanted consumers to reach for a yfood “complete meal” drink. 

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The brand, whose bottles are known for their “This Is Food” large lettering, now also sells shakes, powders, bars and bowls across about 30 European countries, generating annual revenue of nearly €150 million in 2025.

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Nestle’s move is the first acquisition under Chief Executive Officer Philipp Navratil who took charge in September with a plan to streamline operations and promote brands and categories more likely to be in demand in the coming years. 

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Although yfood is well known in Europe, there is significant scope for it to expand in the US, one of the largest markets in the world for meal-replacement products, the people said. What once started there as a market for dieters wanting slimming shakes has grown into a diversified category offering consumers a wide range of specialized products. 

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In 2022, Nestle bought a majority stake in Orgain, which has one of the top selling plant-based protein ready-to-drink shakes in the US. Nestle also owns nutritional drinks brand Boost.

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Nestle is not the only foodmaker expanding in this area. In March, Danone purchased UK-based Huel, a maker of fortified protein powders and drinks backed by celebrities like actor Idris Elba, boosting its range of protein-packed dairy products.

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Nestle recently combined its health science and nutrition divisions to create a larger platform focused on specific needs such as longevity, infant formula and products that support gut health and obesity management for patients on GLP-1 weight-loss medications. 

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Navratil said embedding nutrition into one of the company’s four core units was not driven by the need to cut costs but rather the opportunity to “unlock growth.”  Speaking at a consumer conference in Paris on Tuesday, Navratil said there was a lot of overlap in areas such as protein, fibre and creatine, a quick source of energy for muscles, and combining nutrition with health science could help more effectively scale innovations globally. 

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The deal will complete by July 3 with Nestle executive Jolanda Schwirtz taking charge of yfood. 

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—With assistance from Jillian Deutsch.

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