Why is HelloFresh so appealing?
And does the advertising ever end?
Why is the concept of HelloFresh so damn alluring? I personally hate the influencer ads that are all over Instagram. I’ve even gone so far as to block HelloFresh in order to prevent ads from being displayed, but Instagram frustratingly still shows them to me, just sans the HelloFresh name. You know the ones I’m talking about. Influencer opens her door to find the immaculate HelloFresh box sitting on her doorstep, brings it to her immaculate kitchen and unpacks the immaculate goods. The influencer faces used in their social media partnerships may change, but the promise of affordable, fresh, easy to prepare meals handily delivered to your front door remains the same.
HelloFresh officially came to Ireland in 2022, but 2023 was the year it really got motoring. HelloFresh is the trading name of Fresh Grocery Delivery Services Limited, a company wholly owned by its German parent HelloFresh SE. At the time of writing, 2023 finance figures are not yet available, but in 2022 it reported as employing 17 people and a shareholders’ deficit of €1.83 million. That’s not entirely unexpected for a company in the early stages of operation.
Last August and September, I tried out two HelloFresh boxes using referral/discount codes and haphazardly shared my results on Instagram Stories. I’m not the first person to detail their HelloFresh experience (see here for early opinions from Caitríona Redmond of Wholesome Ireland and Marie Claire Digby from the Irish Times) but given that HelloFresh has now had a decent amount of time to get embedded in the Irish market, I wanted to see how it was being received by customers. So I asked people to share their experiences on social media, some of which I’ve incorporated below.
How much does it cost?
HelloFresh follows a model whereby your first box, or boxes are discounted, but then revert to full price. Offers include 50% off your first box, or ‘up to €85 off your first 4 boxes’. If, like me, you’ve cancelled your subscription, you will find yourself receiving regular emails offering you new deals to resubscribe. Everyone loves a good deal, but like your Junior Cert business studies teacher told you, it’s only a good deal when it offers value compared to the full price.
The pricing model varies based on two factors (1) the number of people (2 or 4) and (2) the number of meals ordered (3, 4 or 5). HelloFresh state that meals start ‘from just €4.70/pp’ but achieving that economy of scale requires purchasing the biggest possible box (5 meals for 4 people). There’s also a flat delivery fee of €5.99 which HelloFresh don’t include in their calculations, but in my view very much needs to be factored in. After all, you won’t be eating the meals without delivery.
Like the scientist I once was, I love using a table or graph to share information. Creating a table about HelloFresh pricing is quite a bit away from my days of calculating quantum effects, but I’ve still got the skills. The 2 people / 3 meal box works out at €7.83 per person per meal including delivery, a bit of a distance from the headline €4.70. In fact, cost was one of the constant themes of my reader feedback with many people finding it too expensive once the promotional period ended.
The recipes
There are 19+ recipes to choose from each week across a range of themes (quick cook, vegetarian, family friendly etc). Even with such a selection, I found it a bit underwhelming and wasn’t entirely happy with my choices. I suppose I’m used to cooking spontaneously, flexing flavours as I like, and the concept of choosing in advance felt constrained. Some of my readers loved the fact that their menu was planned out for the coming week, but an equal amount weren’t overly happy with the choices with one stating ‘it didn’t set my world on fire’.
In Ireland, recipes are overseen by Hannah Duxbury, Head of Culinary at HelloFresh Ireland, and produce is sourced from Irish suppliers including Andarl Farm Pork and Glenilen. To give credit where it’s due, the recipe cards are well written with clear instructions and nutritional information, and can be kept for later reuse.
The box and ingredients
Delivery was straightforward, with everything arriving neatly in a chilled cardboard box, although several readers had found the delivery options and timing inconvenient. The box itself is recyclable, the gel ice packs are in theory reusable and the insulation is made from recycled PET which unfortunately cannot be further recycled. I personally find the whole area of chilled food delivery, a problem not exclusive to HelloFresh, to be heavy on packaging, and I fear that someday my cold corpse will be found under an avalanche of the gel packs which I’ve saved in my laundry room in the vain hope that I’ll someday reuse them.
Each individual meal comes in its own paper bag, clearly labelled with a number, which corresponds to one of the recipe cards. Each bag contains exactly the ingredients needed to make the recipe, right down to individual cloves of garlic. It’s somewhat surreal to realise that separating garlic cloves for this purpose is someone’s job. All you need to supply are the basics such as butter, oil, salt and pepper.
Lots of readers, in particular people cooking for one, praised how this precision helped prevent food waste and saved time on shopping. I had zero issues with the quality of ingredients I received, but multiple readers were not satisfied with the vegetables received in their boxes.
How did I get on?
The recipe cards are fairly foolproof which is good news for people who are new to cooking or not regular cooks. If you’re in any way a decent or confident cook, you might find yourself riffing on the recipes, or adjusting cooking times to suit your own tastes.
I surprisingly enjoyed cooking dishes that wouldn’t be part of my normal line up. Pea & pesto orzo or garlic butter prawns are two examples that have since inspired me. I was also really unexpectedly pleased by the quantity of vegetables in the meals, and afterwards I found that I consciously increased the amount of vegetables in my own cooking. An unexpected benefit indeed.
Final thoughts
Thankfully, my followers responded to my social media query with a wide range of thoughts (thank you all!) and I came to see how it could work very well for singles (as long as they don’t mind eating a meal over two sittings) or for time poor people such as new mothers. A follower with ADHD even sang its praises for helping them. As always, you learn from the perspectives of others.
Weighing it all up, I personally just couldn't justify the cost of HelloFresh, especially without the promotional discounts and with the limitation of choice. But… despite it all…. I still find myself occasionally tempted to use one of the discount codes from their marketing emails and give it another go. Will I ever learn?