Meal-kit firm HelloFresh has said that its active customer base grew by 74.2% in the first quarter, as the trend of cooking at home persisted even as lockdowns across markets are being eased.
As of Q1 2021, the company boasted 7.28 million customers, compared to 4.18 million in the first quarter of last year.
EBITDA Gains
The Berlin-based company, which delivers pre-portioned meal ingredients with recipes to subscribers, more than doubled its quarterly adjusted EBITDA to €159.2 million, from €63.1 million a year earlier.
“2021 has set off to a strong start," commented Dominik Richter, CEO and co-founder of HelloFresh. "Our teams have been working hard to de-bottleneck the capacity constraints we were experiencing over the majority of 2020, especially in our US market. As a result, we’ve welcomed more customers than ever to HelloFresh”
E-Commerce Wave
HelloFresh, along with peer Blue Apron and takeaway food groups Delivery Hero and Just Eat, has benefited from a surge in orders during the lockdowns as more people eat and cook at home, and is now riding an e-commerce boom brought on by the pandemic.
“As consumers around the world have been adapting to new habits, like buying groceries online, they’ve also discovered the many advantages of our full meal solutions over traditional grocery shopping," said Richter. "Since we offer our customers great value for money, convenience as well as tasty and healthy meals, I am confident that we will benefit disproportionately from the shift to increased online grocery penetration.”
The company has experienced supply bottlenecks in the US, but it said recently that fulfilment centres under construction in Georgia and Texas would ease this issue.
HelloFresh recently acquired ready-to-eat meal company Factor75, with the group saying that it is 'already favourably contributing to the group's success'.
In April, the company had forecast adjusted EBITDA in the range of €155 million to €165 million.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more Technology stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
