HelloFresh - statistics & facts
We have a winner: HelloFresh has come out on top of the meal kits market. Founded in Berlin, Germany in 2011, HelloFresh was one of the first companies of its kind. Through a strategy of rapid expansion and high marketing expenses, the company has been able to fend off local competitors in virtually all markets where it is active. Only a year after its conception, HelloFresh expanded to the Netherlands, the UK, Austria, and Australia, after which the company set foot on the U.S. market in 2013. In Europe, HelloFresh has been the market leader from very early on. However, when the company entered the U.S., it found a worthy adversary in Blue Apron. Up until 2017, Blue Apron was able to stay on top, but in the years after that, the difference in customers has become gigantic. HelloFresh’s American dream has become reality, as the company reached a whopping 74% market share in the United States.
If HelloFresh is to succeed in a more normal, post-pandemic online grocery arena, it needs to carry the meal kit delivery concept to new heights. As one of the industry founders and the current global market leader, HelloFresh’s performance is crucial for the meal kits industry to survive.
Recipe (box) for success
HelloFresh has been growing at a rapid pace in the last decade. In 2013, the company generated a revenue of 14 million euros. Ten years later, in 2023, the global revenue was 7.6 billion euros. This staggering growth was not only achieved in the early years. In fact, as recent as 2020, the company more than doubled in size within the year. With these growth figures, it comes as no surprise that the meal kits market as a whole has also been increasing in recent years. Whereas the global market value was measured at just over six billion U.S. dollars before the pandemic, this has increased to nearly 15 billion U.S. dollars in just five years’ time.The golden era is over- what comes next?
Virtually all e-commerce categories that enjoyed unprecedented growth during the pandemic are currently getting used to a dip in growth rate. The post-pandemic dip is especially apparent in the online grocery delivery market. The past ten years saw new companies popping up left and right – from Q-commerce startups such as Gorillas and Getir to restaurant delivery services like Delivery Hero and Deliveroo. As of 2024, most of these companies are facing financial hardship in the struggle to achieve profitability, and HelloFresh is no exception. Recent quarters showed dwindling customer numbers, with investors getting cold feet. As a response, HelloFresh is exploring other avenues alongside their core meal kit business by ramping up its ready meals segment.If HelloFresh is to succeed in a more normal, post-pandemic online grocery arena, it needs to carry the meal kit delivery concept to new heights. As one of the industry founders and the current global market leader, HelloFresh’s performance is crucial for the meal kits industry to survive.
