MD and co-founder of LoveSeitan, Steve Swindon, has announced that the plant-based brand, which launched in August 2017, is no longer trading.
The brand supplied its ready-made vegan seitan products to food service, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, restaurants, cafes and retail outlets including Tesco, Aldi, Co-op and Sainsbury’s.
With a range spanning seitan roast, bacon, burgers, chicken bites and pepperoni, LoveSeitan became a champion for the ‘super healthy, low fat, plant-based, protein-rich food’, but in a LinkedIn post, Swindon said that after nearly six years in business, the company is closing its doors.
“Tough market conditions and increasing costs have contributed to this but, at the end of the day, we could not convince enough people of the benefits of seitan,” he posted. “It has been an incredible journey and I’m grateful for every minute of it but it’s time to move on to something new.
Your loyalty, dedication and resilience deserved better that this and I’m sorry we couldn’t turn it around
The brand was born when Swindon and co-founder Nick Abear found it difficult to buy seitan online other than pickled in jars and, as committed vegans, wanted to help eliminate the consumption of animal products by providing ‘a top quality vegan product’.
In 2018, VBites founder Heather Mills invested in the company in an agreement which saw LoveSeitan employ the manufacturer’s plant-based facilities to help scale production and increase distribution.
But there were signs that things weren’t going well in April this year, when a post on LoveSeitan’s Facebook page said: “We have to be honest with you. We grew quite quickly in the early days and within a year had moved our production to a factory. Roll forward to 2023 and we have seen COVID, Brexit, war and a cost of living crisis. We are not giving up yet, we are very proud of our products but we need your help. Last week a large wholesaler cancelled our listings with no notice and left us with a huge amount of stock.”
In the LinkedIn post, Swindon thanked everyone who supported the brand. “I’d also like to give special thanks to the LoveSeitan team … who worked their socks off and stuck with me to the very end. Your loyalty, dedication and resilience deserved better that this and I’m sorry we couldn’t turn it around.”
