The meal replacement from Yfood is likely known to many of you through advertisements featuring well-known influencers. It has now become known that Nestlé is seeking a minority stake. The food company has faced criticism for years, which could now also harm Yfood.
What is Yfood? The company was founded in 2017 and was part of the well-known television show “Die Höhle der Löwen”.
The start-up managed to maintain itself and nearly doubled its revenues from 2021 to 2022 with 120 million euros. This was also due to the marketing strategy of running many campaigns with German-speaking influencers:
- Unge was a long-time Yfood partner, even had a logo in the stream
- At the end of the show 7 vs Wild, the participants received a bottle of Yfood after 7 days without food
- For the big Minecraft event Craft Attack 10, Yfood was one of the sponsors
However, it has now become known that Nestlé wants to get involved with Yfood – it seems to be only a matter of formalities (handelsblatt.com). The first reactions to this do not bode well.
Yfood primarily relied on German influencers. By the way, a new survival MMO is currently being developed here:
Yfood plans expansion – needs a strategic partner
What does Yfood plan and why Nestlé? As reported by the trade magazine “Lebensmittel Zeitung”, Yfood is planning a strategic partnership with Nestlé. They hope for “a beneficial collaboration in the areas of international expansion and distribution channels”.
For Yfood, it is about reaching new markets and customer groups. Such endeavors are often associated with high costs and require a certain know-how. Nestlé can undoubtedly provide both – money and knowledge.
Such a partnership is not unusual – smaller companies often seek larger partners to grow themselves. So far, everything looks like Yfood will remain completely independent. Nestlé apparently has no direct influence on decisions within the company.
However, the announcement of the minority stake has already had a direct impact on Yfood. Just hours after the announcement, the first reactions have already come.
What do the reactions look like? One of the first to react was Unge. The German influencer residing in Portugal was a long-time close partner of Yfood. He distanced himself immediately:
He stated that he has not been a partner since the beginning of the year, and that will remain so. Further down in the tweet, he explained why he had recently advertised for Yfood: “Yes, that was a placement. But until the beginning of the year, they were a fixed partner with a logo in the stream and a banner in the info box. Such placements will not happen in the future anymore”.
Fabian Siegismund also quickly made it clear what he thinks of Nestlé’s involvement:
My Twitch sponsorship was supposed to start tomorrow, I canceled it today because of the Nestlé issue.
— Fabian Siegismund (@Siegismund) February 28, 2023
He has directly canceled a current sponsorship.
Many users also feel reminded of the case of “Ankerkraut”. In 2022, Nestlé completely bought the spices company, which also came from “Die Höhle der Löwen” and did a lot of advertising with influencers who brought their own varieties to market.
Why is Nestlé considered controversial? The Swiss company has faced criticism for years for focusing solely on profit. Handelsblatt summarized the biggest allegations in 2019 (via handelsblatt.de):
- They promote water in areas with water scarcity and sell it expensively all over the world
- They promote palm oil, which threatens rainforests
- Baby food has not been produced according to scientific findings
Nestlé itself does not tire of denying the allegations and refers to its website (via nestle.de), where all the questions are clarified. Nevertheless, the company struggles to shed its controversial image.
What do you think of Nestlé, Yfood and/or the involvement? Leave us a comment on the topic.
If you want to read more about influencer topics, check it out here: Kick hires scandal streamer for a lot of money – MontanaBlack says what he wants, so he leaves Twitch
