Julienne Bruno

Julienne Bruno was a London-based food company producing dairy-free alternatives to fresh Italian cheeses and cream products. Founded in 2020, it built its Collection 01 range around Burrella (a burrata alternative), Crematta (a ricotta-style whipped spread), Superstraccia (a stracciatella-style curd) and Mozzafiore Pearls (mini mozzarella balls). Products were made from soy milk and coconut oil with vegetable fibres, produced in fresh weekly batches in-house and naturally fermented using a bespoke method developed over roughly two years. The company positioned its products as new plant-based creations rather than imitations of dairy cheese, and stated its ingredients were GMO-free and free of palm oil, with soybeans sourced from France rather than South America to avoid deforestation-linked supply.

The company was registered in 2020 under director Axel Katalan Nasi and operated from Ruislip on the outskirts of London. It built a factory during the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to the founder, scaled to more than one thousand UK locations plus listings in Switzerland and the UAE. Despite raising more than £6m across two rounds, it recorded losses throughout its life: net losses of £1.6m in 2022, more than doubling in 2023 and rising a further 34% in 2024 to £5.1m according to Companies House filings. Requiring further capital to reach profitable scale, it ran a sale and investment process; no solvent outcome was found and Sam Birchall and Howard Smith of Interpath were appointed joint administrators on 11 November 2025, with all 14 staff made redundant. Within days, Harvey & Brockless — the speciality food subsidiary of The Compleat Food Group — acquired the Julienne Bruno brand and certain assets, relocated production to Evesham, Worcestershire, and relaunched the Collection 01 range in retail and foodservice in May 2026 with recipes unchanged.

Founding story

Axel Katalan, who had previously co-founded smart building technology company Pointr, launched Julienne Bruno in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic; startups.co.uk also lists Chi San as a co-founder. The founders were reportedly frustrated by plant-based products being judged only as passable imitations of animal-based originals, and after trialling raw materials including soybeans settled on a soy-based flagship product, the Burrella. The company name refers to vegetable cutting styles.

Business model

Branded consumer packaged food: Julienne Bruno manufactured chilled dairy-free cheese and cream products in-house and sold them through premium grocery retail, online grocery and foodservice channels. Under Harvey & Brockless ownership the brand continues to be sold into both retail and foodservice.

Revenue from wholesale sales of branded chilled plant-based cheese and cream products to grocery retailers, online grocery and foodservice customers.

Traction

According to the founder, the company scaled to more than one thousand UK locations with additional listings in Switzerland and the UAE, alongside foodservice accounts. It employed 14 people at the time of administration. Financially it remained loss-making throughout, with net losses of £1.6m (2022) rising to £5.1m (2024).

Latest developments

Harvey & Brockless acquired the Julienne Bruno brand and certain production assets out of administration in November 2025 and relocated production to Evesham, Worcestershire. In May 2026 The Compleat Food Group relaunched the Collection 01 range — Superstraccia, Burrella and Crematta — into retail and foodservice with unchanged recipes, including a renewed listing with Ocado. Founder Axel Katalan said he would continue to support the brand as a consultant to Compleat for a few months.