Rude Health acquired by fellow plant-based firm Oddlygood

Founded in 2005, Rude Health is on track to deliver £28m in revenue this year and recently recertified as a B Corp with a score of 120.7 – putting it in the top three food and drink brands in the UK.

Meanwhile, Oddlygood has become a key player in the Nordic plant-based market, where in six years it’s grown to an anticipated turnover of close to €50m.

It manufactures a widely stocked range of plant-based alternatives to milk, cheese, desserts, cooking products and yoghurts, and first launched in the UK in 2023.

Moving forward the UK is a “key territory”​ for Oddlygood, which hopes that its acquisition of Rude Health will diversify the business beyond the Nordics and drive growth in the UK and Europe.

Following completion of the deal Rude Health will continue to manufacture its product range, while Oddlygood will establish a base for its UK operations.

‘Right time’ for a deal

Camilla Barnard, co-founder of Rude Health, welcomed the deal with Oddlygood and said that now was the right time for the firm to find a partner to support the next stage of their journey.

“We created Rude Health at our kitchen table, to make healthy eating a celebration, not a sacrifice,” ​Barnard continued.

“From these basic beginnings mixing muesli we branched out into more cereals and then dairy alternative drinks. The Rude Health brand has grown beyond anything I could imagine to becoming a household name.”​

Rude Health chief executive Tim Smith added: “Joining forces with Oddlygood opens up new opportunities for growth and innovation, and our shared missions around taste, quality and the crucial role of plant-based food and drink make this a natural fit. We’re looking forward to working together and leveraging our strengths and making the healthy choice a celebration (not a sacrifice) for our customers.”​

Finally, Oddlygood CEO Niko Vuorenmaa said that the firm has the ambition to become one of the leading plant-based businesses in Europe.

“Rude Health is one of the biggest success stories in British plant-based food,”​ Vuorenmaa commented.

“Both Oddlygood and Rude Health have complementary portfolios, target audiences and capabilities which will enable us to grow both brands alongside each other. What we’ve achieved with Oddlygood in such little time is down to the expertise and passion of our team. We’ll focus the same attention and care to Rude Health and we’ll work in partnership with the team there to build on its reputation as a high quality and loved brand and partner.”​

In other news, Food Manufacture has published its latest food and drink trends report​​​​​​​, summarising all the hottest topics from 2024 with insight from a slew of industry figures.