Vegetarian Nuggets with Vegan Dipping Sauce

Unilever Divests The Vegetarian Butcher to JBS-owned Vivera

March 20, 2025

Unilever decides that supply chain, technology and R&D differences of the plant-based foods brand were too different from the rest of the Unilever foods portfolio that a sale was the best move for both sides.

Andy Hanacek

Unilever announced it has received a binding offer from JBS S.A.-owned European plant-based company Vivera to acquire The Vegetarian Butcher, according to a release — a move said to help sharpen Unilever’s portfolio for long-term growth and scalability.

The Vegetarian Butcher was acquired by Unilever in 2018 from founder Jaap Korteweg, after which it delivered strong, double-digit average growth and expanded to more than 55 markets in worldwide retail and foodservice channels, the company said.

Unilever decided to divest the brand due at least in part to the supply chain needs for The Vegetarian Butcher’s chilled and frozen products, which didn’t fit as well with other products in the wider Unilever food portfolio. Further, the brand’s technological and R&D capabilities stood apart from that of its sibling Unilever product lines.

Heiko Schipper, president of Unilever Foods, was confident The Vegetarian Butcher would be better served under new ownership that is dedicated to plant-based meat replacements. It has been a tumultuous month for Unilever, which had said late last year that it would be spinning off its ice cream business as part of the portfolio management strategies mentioned above. Latest news was that plan remained on track.

However, last month, the company unexpectedly announced that CEO Hein Schumacher would step down “by mutual agreement” and be replaced by CFO and executive director Fernando Fernandez.

Then, just two days ago (March 18), Unilever-owned Ben & Jerry’s escalated the years-long battle between parent and subsidiary, filing a lawsuit accusing Unilever of firing Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever earlier this month because he supported the Vermont ice cream company’s increasingly vocal social mission.

As for where The Vegetarian Butcher is headed, JBS S.A. said during its presentation to the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) in mid-February that its plant-based business, which includes Vivera, ranked No. 3 in Europe. Vivera was acquired by JBS in 2021, and its CEO, Willem van Weede, said of the acquisition that the company was proud to unify with the “like-minded believers” at The Vegetarian Butcher and looked forward to leveraging both companies’ competencies.

Terms of the offer were not disclosed, but the deal was expected to be completed by Q3 2025.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.