Deliciously Ella and Waitrose have partnered to create an ambitious cross-category plant-based product range that could eventually span over 100 SKUs.
Plants by Deliciously Ella (named after the brand’s restaurant in London’s Bond Street) began rolling out this week with its first products, a selection of soups and yoghurts.
With plans for a rollout of products across the whole store over the next year, it would be “almost like another tier to Waitrose’s own-label selection”, said the brand’s CEO Matthew Mills, adding: “It is the biggest project we’ve ever done as a brand.”
Plants by Deliciously Ella would “play completely cross-category, in multiple ambient categories, [as well as featuring] very prominently in chilled and frozen”, he said.
Deliciously Ella had enlisted a “diverse mix of suppliers, but we are controlling the supply chain”, added Mills.
In total, Deliciously Ella was looking at some 100 SKUs for development, added founder Ella Mills. “We are working in deep collaboration [with Waitrose]. The brand is completely exclusive.”
The business hoped to set a new precedent in plant-based for products that used natural ingredients instead of ingredients such as emulsifiers and stabilisers, she said.
“The whole range will be made with natural, kitchen cupboard ingredients. There are many people who said it would be impossible to make X with Y and Z ingredients, but it is possible and it should be the direction we are all trying to take.”
The brand will be mounting a major social campaign, as well as shared activities with Waitrose.
The tie-up marked an opportunity “for us to be able to provide even more plant-based options for our customers, making a holistic lifestyle even easier”, said Waitrose head of ambient trading Giles Fisher.
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