Unilever's sale of The Vegetarian Butcher caught the eye for a number of reasons, with those doing business in the plant-based meat market largely positive about the deal.
The transaction, however, has sparked questions about how JBS, the meat giant that's the new owner of The Vegetarian Butcher, will look to grow the brand's sales, especially in a market where the going has proved a lot tougher than some in the sector were suggesting a few years ago.
But, first, to Unilever's rationale, with the FMCG giant receiving some criticism among the plant-based industry's proponents.
That Unilever has offloaded the Dutch-based business is little surprise. It was only in November that UK broadcaster Sky News said Unilever had hired bankers to work on selling the assets. Bought seven years ago, Unilever, which under previous CEO Hein Schumacher had been looking to dispose of assets in food, clearly didn't see a future for The Vegetarian Butcher in its slimmed-down portfolio in the sector.
Last month, Unilever announced the surprise departure of Schumacher (after just 18 months in the role) and the promotion of CFO Fernando Fernandez to the top job. A desire to speed up the implementation of the changes Schumacher had put in place appeared to be central to the decision.
And a thirst to accelerate the trimming of Unilever's food portfolio seems important to Fernandez, who, speaking to analysts earlier this month, said that process has "not really been happening that quickly".
Unilever was still "committed" to grow its position in food, Fernandez said, but he underlined the company had identified around €1bn ($1.1bn) tied up in "non-core" food brands.
While we'll never know how much JBS paid for The Vegetarian Butcher, we do know it was one of those businesses Unilever no longer deemed "core" to its efforts in food.
Unilever's decision has been questioned in some quarters. "Kodak missed the digital [camera]. Nokia missed the smartphone. Today Unilever might be missing the plant-based revolution," Abhishek Sinha, the founder and CEO of Indian plant-based meat business GoodDot Enterprises, posted on LinkedIn this week.
"Unilever's plan to offload of The Vegetarian Butcher - formerly its crown jewel sustainability brand - is reminiscent of an all-too-familiar tale: a heritage giant leaving too early from innovation. Even with a robust brand, QSR partnerships, and an increasing global demand for alternative proteins, Unilever never really supported TVB in strategic markets such as India, the US or China."
Given the internal push at Unilever to scale back and focus its efforts on fewer assets and the external conditions facing plant-based meat brands across a number of key markets in recent quarters, Unilever's decision is understandable.