The pandemic has boosted the popularity of the meal boxes of HelloFresh. Last year, the German company delivered more than 600 million boxes to people’s homes, spread over 14 countries. Especially in the last months of 2020, the delivery was very busy, as people were looking for an alternative because of the closure of the restaurants due to the virus.

Just like during the first wave of coronavirus infections, people now choose to have the meal boxes delivered and not go to the store themselves. HelloFresh saw revenue more than double in the coronavirus year to just 3.8 billion euros. At times, the company also faced capacity problems due to high demand.

The last quarter of 2020 was HelloFresh’s best quarter ever with sales of more than 1.1 billion euros generated by 5.3 million customers. The number of customers who ordered boxes increased by 78 percent on an annual basis. They also ordered more often on average, with the average value of the orders also slightly higher, according to the company.

The operating result of the company, the income before deduction of taxes, interest and one-off items, was more than 500 million euros. This meant an almost tenfold increase on an annual basis.

HelloFresh expects to grow further this year. In doing so, the company anticipates revenue growth of 20 to 25 percent, helped by the acquisition of the US branch counterpart Factor75. That deal was announced last November.

HelloFresh, which also delivers meal boxes in the Netherlands, reported no figures from the Netherlands separately. A spokeswoman indicates that the performance in the Benelux last year was similar to that of the international branch of HelloFresh. There was a growth in turnover of almost 114 percent and an operating result that was 231 percent higher than a year earlier.