What does GLP-1 adoption imply for meals companies? Abstract
- GLP‑1 medication are scaling quick and can sharply cut back general meals volumes
- Weight management turns into alternative‑pushed as cheaper GLP‑1 drugs increase entry
- Falling volumes push corporations to win share, premiumise or reduce prices
- Comfort and impulse fashions face danger as cravings and urges decline
- Reformulation should shift towards protein, fibre and crops to remain related
The urge for food‑suppressant pattern is skyrocketing, with GLP‑1 medication attracting broader curiosity than nearly another pharmaceutical breakthrough.
Why? As a result of when weight is concerned, there’s an added aesthetic motivation driving demand – one thing we merely don’t see with drugs for situations like coronary heart illness or despair.
As Henry Dimbleby – the meals campaigner, creator of the UK’s 2020 Nationwide Meals Technique, and managing director of consultancy Bramble Companions – places it, foods and drinks corporations aren’t prepared for the dimensions and velocity of GLP-1 adoption, which presently represents “the largest” shift within the meals system.
Listed here are 4 key methods, from retail to manufacturing, to assist companies thrive in a world the place urge for food and impulse are in decline.
Put together for a world the place individuals can “select their weight”
This may occasionally sound like science fiction, however we’re not speaking a few galaxy far, distant. It’s coming to this planet, Earth, and really quickly.
One can’t argue with the details: over time, medication get cheaper, more practical and handy, with fewer uncomfortable side effects. When that occurs with GLP-1s, “individuals could successfully select what weight they need,” explains Dimbleby.
If given the selection, how many individuals dwelling with weight problems would select to proceed to take action? Only a few, he suspects. What’s extra doubtless is that individuals are prescribed a GLP-1 tablet when ageing naturally causes a metabolism slowdown – let’s say, across the age of 40.
Small corporations could outmanoeuvre incumbents
Henry Dimbleby, meals campaigner and managing director of Bramble Companions
So what’s the technique for foods and drinks companies? At the start, to grasp the true scale and velocity of GLP-1 adoption. Within the UK alone, 66% of individuals are both obese or dwelling with weight problems, with 40% desirous to drop pounds. To this point, an estimated 2 million individuals are prepared to pay hundreds for the medication. And when patents lapse, that monetary barrier begins to fall.
The end result can be a “very completely different world”, says Dimbleby. And one the place considerably decrease volumes of meals are consumed.
Develop revenue when volumes fall
Which leads neatly to the following technique for meals and beverage gamers hoping to reach the GLP-1 age. If customers are shopping for fewer models however the strain to develop the company backside line stays, that creates a significant problem in itself. So how can companies develop revenue when volumes fall?
There are solely three levers CPGs can pull, in response to Dimbleby.
Enhance market share: The primary is to win market share from opponents. Because the marketing consultant stresses, “Be the canoe, not the tanker.” In different phrases, even for the meals giants of this world, pondering nimbly is vital. And for smaller corporations trying to attraction to GLP-1 customers, this might be their second. “Small corporations could outmanoeuvre incumbents.”
Premiumise: This pattern has turn out to be huge enterprise in meals and beverage and stays a key choice for corporations going through quantity declines. With or with out GLP‑1, main gamers from Unilever to Nestlé are pushing premiumisation. Nevertheless it’s not so simple as declaring a premium technique, warns Dimbleby. Companies have to analyse their portfolios rigorously to establish which components are genuinely suited to it.
Cut back prices: The ultimate technique is to chop prices, which makes clear industrial sense when quantity is falling. A sharper worth level can assist protect gross sales, however it’s not merely about slashing costs. Dimbleby stresses the necessity for a “clear plan for effectivity” that retains margins intact.
Meals corporations needn’t pull one lever and persist with it. It might be {that a} mix of all three brings the most effective outcomes. However understanding what sort of combine within the portfolio is vital.
As comfort dies, rethink your impulse technique
Because the GLP‑1 pattern accelerates, it may render some enterprise fashions unviable. The comfort mannequin is especially uncovered, posing an actual danger to corporations reliant on impulse purchases.
Rising proof means that GLP-1s cut back cravings and urges. In meals, that might current in decreased demand for salty snacks, sugary treats or chocolate. Nevertheless it may additionally lengthen past the meals aisle. As Dimbleby explains, different classes like cigarettes, vapes and even lottery tickets may see decreased demand over time. “If that is all true, the comfort story mannequin can be profoundly affected.”
For snack and confectionery corporations, the implications are critical. These corporations want a “worst-case situation plan for impulse,” stresses the marketing consultant. “If GLP-1 reduces impulses, what replaces snack-based and craving-based classes?”
Don’t simply prohibit the unhealthy, enhance the nice
After which we arrive at reformulation – a time period that’s slowly altering its which means within the age of optimistic vitamin. The place as soon as nutrition-forward meals was thought-about something low in fats, salt and sugar, today the narrative is shifting in direction of boosting sought-after elements like protein, fibre, and crops.
Most corporations are behind, and know they’re behind
Henry Dimbleby, meals campaigner and managing director of Bramble Companions
This sort of reformulation feeds into the broader shopper pattern for high quality, which isn’t going away. It’s altering, nevertheless – and in response to Dimbleby, may “change past recognition”.
“Virtually everybody globally will suppose in a different way about meals,” he says. “Individuals can be compelled to suppose extra rigorously about what they eat.”
Meals corporations due to this fact want to grasp their completely different shopper segments immediately, and the way GLP-1 will change that tomorrow.
So what’s the large takeaway for business? Change is coming, quick. And it’s not linear. “Most corporations are behind, and know they’re behind,” says Dimbleby. These lagging can not afford to attend.
Need to be taught extra in regards to the GLP-1 disruption?
Don’t miss our Constructive Diet broadcast sequence and devoted session on GLP-1 Disruption. Hear from specialists at Lifesum, Circana, Cornerstone Diet, Släcka and extra on 5 February 2026, and on demand thereafter.
