Dairy-free yoghurt brand Coconut Collaborative shrugged off a drop in foodservice sales to grow revenues by 28.5% last year, though profitability was constrained by continued investment in international expansion.
The yoghurt alternative brand’s sales rose from £11.9m in 2019 to £15.2m in 2020 as Covid boosted consumer demand for its products.
Founder and MD James Averdieck described the year as a “rollercoaster”, with grocery sales increasing strongly during lockdown periods, but its foodservice business struggling.
“Overall Covid acted as a catalyst for consumers to re-evaluate life- style choices across the board, with many people switching into plant based alternatives as a result,” he said.
Gross profits rose from £3.5m to £5.3m, though its operating loss increased from £3.7m to £3.8m due to continued investment in the US.
In March 2020 the brand teamed up with US-based plant based growth capital fund Powerplant Partners to grow the business in North America and Averdieck said the overall losses reflect the investment in this early stage business.
“Our dessert range quality wise is on a different scale to locally produced brands and the consumer reaction has been fantastic so we are very confident that this heavy investment will pay off in the long run,” he said.
It also has a growing presence in France, Germany and Ireland and created a Netherlands-based subsidiary to trade with the EU and overcome Brexit cross border regulations.
In the current financial year Averdieck said the brand has continued to build market share in the UK as consumer behaviour normalises since the end of Covid restrictions.
“We are now the clear challenger brand in plant-based yoghurts and desserts with 16% market share behind Alpro at 52%, but we are now driving the majority of the category growth,” he said.
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