HelloFresh invests $70M to double meal options, add premium proteins, and use AI for personalized ordering—aiming to keep customers cooking at home.
Meal kit specialists HelloFresh SE is employing artificial intelligence to get more customers cooking.
The Berlin-based company announced a $70 million investment in its menu subscriptions on Monday. The funds will more than double the number of meals offered and increase the range of star proteins such as beef and seafood. It will also bolster the use of AI technology to streamline decision-making during ordering, even as the recipe choices increase.
The refresh is taking place for customers in the US, its biggest market; the company says it will enhance product offerings in other countries later. (In 2024, the group delivered over 511 million meals in North America, including Canada. It’s more than half the worldwide number of meals, over 965 million.) In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, Assaf Ronen, HelloFresh group president, said that the investment is intended to enhance brand loyalty and bring in customers in the face of inflationary food pressures. While “$70 million is a very large check,” he says, “the more we invest in customers, the more they stay with us.”
HelloFresh sees an opportunity as Americans reduce dining out amid rising food prices. The company is valued at around €1.5 billion ($1.73 billion); at its peak in 2021, it hit €16.7 billion due to the pandemic. According to a series of recent company polls, among 5,000 customers, nine out of 10 respondents said they plan to eat more at home in the upcoming year. And 58% of respondents said they’re bored with what they eat every night.
To that end, a significant portion of that $70 million will be used to expand weekly meal offerings from 45 to more than 100. Customers can now start cooking dishes like seared salmon with couscous, spiced vegetables and lemon yogurt, and eggplant caponata pitas with mozzarella. There’s more premium meat cuts, including grass-fed rib-eyes and whole chicken thighs, and triple the amount of seafood will be available with no upcharge; depending on location, subscription prices might range from about $60 for two 2-serving recipes per week, including delivery, to about $370 for six recipes for six people weekly. (The cost-per-serving runs from about $10 to $11.50.) The company also includes the option of more seasonal produce and specialty products, like nutritional yeast and kimchi. Upcharges will be in place for options like multi-course meals and platters.
Ronen also says that portion sizes will generally increase (look no further than Reddit’s HelloFresh thread if you want to discuss this): Some sides will increase by 50%, while some proteins will be 20% bigger. There will also be increased customization options for swapping ingredients, like chicken for pork.
Ronen, who was vice president of the Alexa division at Amazon.com Inc. a decade ago, says AI technology will help customers navigate the expanded menus and prioritize selections. “What’s on your list will be more relevant for you.” The more each customer orders, the more the system will Netflix-style prompt meals that reflect their preferences—for instance, recipes that take 5 minutes versus 50 minutes in the kitchen.
Ronen won’t confirm how much meal prices will go up in response to these improvements, but he says they won’t be relatively higher than price increases in the broader economy when they take effect in September. “Pricing is something we’re always looking at. In some places, there is a price increase, but it’s lower than the rise in inflationary food prices,” he says.
The investment will also implement upgrades in HelloFresh’s 30-plus distribution centers worldwide. The company will install humanoid-style robots in warehouses to speed up meal kit packing. In the future, Ronen says, HelloFresh will increase its use of robotics: “We look at this refresh as our big first step, but not as a last step.”
He claims that there’s no plan to cut the company’s workforce. But “the more we do, the more we need robots to meet demand. It’s about not needing to grow employees three times” in the future. Or, he says, “its just going to take people longer to get their meals.”
