Canada’s Yves Veggie Cuisine ‘Back By Popular Demand’ with Maple Leaf Foods Acquisition

Canadian plant-based meat brand Yves Veggie Cuisine’s products are back on retail shelves months after its trademark was purchased by Maple Leaf Foods.

Yves Veggie Cuisine, one of the foremost players in the plant-based meat category, is back.

The 41-year-old brand was discontinued by previous owner Hain Celestial last year, which blamed a softening of demand for meat-free products in North America.

Yves Veggie Cuisine was later snapped up by Canadian meat giant Maple Leaf Foods, which completed the purchase of its trademark in January. The latter then filed a new trademark application that covered a range of products under its new subsidiary, including plant-based meat snacks, ready meals, and even blended meat.

While Maple Leaf’s timeline for returning Yves Veggie Cuisine products to shelves in time for Canada Day (July 1) experienced some delays, the company has made good on its promise nonetheless.

It said the iconic plant-based meat brand was “back by popular demand”, with the comeback including six of its most requested refrigerated products.

Maple Leaf Foods to preserve Yves Veggie Cuisine recipes, except for one product

“Yves is one of those rare brands that people didn’t just buy – they built routines, recipes and traditions around it. When Yves disappeared from shelves, Canadians made it very clear how much this brand meant to them. We heard that passion,” said Maple Leaf president and COO Adam Grogan.

“Bringing Yves back is about honouring 40 years of trust, protecting what people have always loved about the products, and giving this iconic Canadian brand an exciting next chapter,” he added.

The returning SKUs include five familiar favourites: Veggie Ground Round, which is available in an original variant in two sizes and a Mexican flavour; Veggie Ham; Veggie Bologna; and Veggie Turkey.

Maple Leaf noted that there may be small differences from the previous recipes, though the team has focused on staying true to the taste and texture that made these products popular among consumers. The only exception is the bologna sausage, with which the company “took the opportunity to do our own thing”, resulting in a distinct take rather than a match to the original.

The plant-based mince range contains 10g of soy protein per 60g serving, while the line of deli meats delivers 13-15g of protein per 55g serving (from a combination of wheat and soy proteins).

The Yves Veggie Cuisine products have already begun appearing on supermarket shelves across Canada, with a wider retail rollout set for the coming weeks.

Maple Leaf confirmed that these meat alternatives will remain 100% plant-based. “We understand that consumers make purchasing decisions for many different reasons, and we’re excited to bring these favourites back to Canadians who have been asking for them,” it said in an FAQ section on the new Yves Veggie Cuisine website.

Can Yves Veggie Cuisine capture Canada’s plant-based appetite again?

Yves Veggie Cuisine was founded by plant-based industry pioneer Yves Potvin, and was one of the first commercially available plant-based meat brands in North America. At one point, the brand supplied its soy-based burgers to McDonald’s in a test run for a McVeggie Burger in hundreds of Southern California stores.

At the turn of the century, its annual revenue reached $35M, and Potvin soon sold the brand to Hain Celestial for a reported $54M. Things were going well financially until 2023, when Yves Veggie Cuisine’s market share in Canada rose by 2.7% in the frozen category and 0.7% in the fresh department in Q1.

However, the wider decline in the plant-based meat category began affecting the brand in 2024, when Hain Celestial ascribed the 5% year-on-year decline in net sales for its Meal Prep division in Q4 to “softness in meat-free”.

It announced the discontinuation of the brand in response to an Instagram comment in July 2025, citing “careful consideration of how we can best focus our efforts to ensure long-term growth across our brand portfolio”. It was met with a wave of backlash on social media, with some customers even calling for a boycott against Hain Celestial.

With the subsequent sale – one of over 85 instances of an alternative protein firm getting acquired, merging, falling into liquidation, or ceasing operations since September 2024 – Maple Leaf plans to lean into Yves Veggie Cuisine’s heritage as a simple soy-based option in an era of anti-UPF sentiment.

The new products are being manufactured at Maple Leaf’s existing US facilities, enabling the brand to benefit from established equipment, supply chains and food safety systems. But its focus remains on bringing these SKUs back to Canadian shelves, with no plans for other markets announced for now.

Research points to surging demand for plant-based food in Canada, where 24% of consumers are actively trying to eat more of these products, and another 30% are interested in following suit. Cost remains the main barrier (cited by 45%), followed by concerns about taste and texture (36%) and nutrition (33%). On the flip side, high food prices are also the leading driver of plant-based food consumption, attracting a third of Canadians.