French plant-based startup La Vie has expanded its tofu lineup to the UK, launching teriyaki cubes and vegan nuggets at a time when minimally processed, whole-food proteins are all the rage.
La Vie has become the latest plant-based meat company to introduce a whole-food product format in the UK.
The French firm, which invaded the UK with its ultra-realistic vegan bacon, has launched two tofu products at Tesco and Ocado, leaning into shoppers’ demand for minimally processed, fibre-rich protein options.
The lineup comprises cubed smoked tofu with a teriyaki glaze and breaded tofu nuggets, with the marketing – somewhat contradictorily – positioning the range as both “natural protein” and “tofu that thinks it’s chicken”.
“We want to challenge what people think tofu can be. Rather than asking consumers to completely change the way they eat, we’ve taken familiar chicken occasions and made them easy to recreate with tofu,” said La Vie co-founder and CEO Nicolas Schweitzer.
“With ‘tofu that thinks it’s chicken’ as our new tagline, we’re making it easier for flexitarians to give tofu a go – without giving up the meals they already love.”
Why La Vie is positioning tofu as a chicken alternative
The tofu products are produced in France and are designed to tackle what La Vie says is one of the biggest barriers to its broader adoption by the mainstream: what the hell do you do with it anyway?
Tofu, the brand suggests, is too bland and complicated, and takes too much preparation. Many consumers have “simply no idea what to do with it”, so it’s out to change this reputation.
Hence the new chicken-adjacent tagline. The idea is: people already know what to do with chicken, so La Vie has designed tofu products that can seamlessly fit into those same familiar meals and occasions.
The tofu cubes come with a sachet of sweet and salty ready-to-use teriyaki glaze (a first for this product category), which enables home cooks to just pan-fry the protein and coat it with the sauce for a quick meal.
To dial up the flavour, the tofu itself is smoked with beechwood and seasoned with soy sauce. It provides 15g of protein and 1g of fibre per 100g serving.
The tofu nuggets, meanwhile, are all about convenience. They’re coated in a cornflake crumb and can be cooked in an air-fryer in seven minutes, offering a “more planet-friendly alternative to the nuggets you’d find at certain famous fast-food drive-thrus”, as La Vie puts it. These contain 13g of protein and 3g of fibre per 100g.
The brand has partnered with influencers and creators to help people discover new ways to use tofu. “From crispy nuggets to Pan Fry Teriyaki, it’s tofu designed to be delicious and genuinely easy to cook. We’ve spent years making plant-based food more fun, and this launch is about removing the barriers that can make tofu feel like hard work,” said Schweitzer.
Whole-food proteins causing a storm in the UK
The rollout follows La Vie’s entry into the tofu space in its home market in April, when it launched these two SKUs alongside a smoked tofu block. Extending the range in the UK is a no-brainer.
Sales of plant-based meat dipped by 7% in 2025, with volumes falling by over 9%. In the first half of this year, this contraction continued with a 4.3% decline in units and 2.7% in value sales.
On the other hand, tofu, tempeh and seitan saw a 14.6% bump in sales last year. And value sales of beans, pulses, tofu and tempeh grew by 10.1% in the first six months of 2026, with tofu alone witnessing a 7.2% hike in unit sales.
The negative discourse around ultra-processed foods (UPFs) has accelerated this shift, despite experts pointing out that not all UPFs are bad for health. Two recent studies have shown that swapping processed meat with plant-based alternatives can boost fibre intake and lower saturated fat and salt consumption, all key markers for good health.
Still, it’s a category 78% of Brits are worried about, driving them towards cleaner-label, whole-food options. This is why so many startups are flooding the UK market with standalone plant-based proteins that don’t intend to mimic meat.
For instance, meat alternative maker This now sells veg-led burgers, slices, and bites, a mushroom-based tofu alternative, and a chickpea tofu range with Omami, while whole-cut vegan meat innovator Juicy Marbles has launched a veg-forward Umami Burger.
Whole foods have further been thrust into the spotlight with the UK’s new school food standards, which now require institutions to serve legumes like beans, lentils, and chickpeas alongside main meal options at least once a week. Schools must also provide certain proteins on three or more days each week, a category that now includes beans and lentils.
To appeal to kids and add some flair to the new launch, the two La Vie tofu products come with a flat-pack cardboard animal toy under the Lil Buddies moniker, with six different designs to collect and build, including a pig, cow, and chicken.
