HelloFresh Group is reimagining the food supply chain from end to end. That includes how our customers receive their orders and how we transport the product to their houses – the so-called “last mile delivery”. While we work together with trusted third-party delivery providers we are constantly exploring ways to own this part of the supply chain internally.

In Australia, the US, Canada, Germany, the UK and France, many customers already receive their meal kits or ready-to-eat meals by HelloFresh operated logistics services.

We have established our most advanced delivery infrastructure in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg; where we deliver 100% of orders with our own delivery fleet.

As the HelloFresh Benelux has long invested in electrifying its last-mile delivery, we now manage the largest 100% refrigerated electric fleet in Europe, consisting of some 500 electric delivery vans. Since May 2024, 90% of orders in these three countries have been delivered to consumers by electric vehicles. That is a substantial increase from 2021, when the share of electric delivery was just ten percent. Our ambition is to eventually deliver close to 100% of orders electrically.

After each tour, the vans get recharged at the distribution hubs.

Besides our own fleet of vehicles, we also operate 14 distribution hubs in the Benelux, where customers’ orders are loaded into delivery vans and where the e-vans get recharged. This established infrastructure network has allowed us to easily launch sub-brands such as Green Chef in the Netherlands and Factor in Belgium and the Netherlands.

We also make effective use of route optimisation software, which leads to more efficient routes, fewer driving hours, fewer kilometers, and fewer vehicles on the road. It also benefits customers with more than 90% of deliveries arriving within 30 minutes of the planned arrival time.

“At HelloFresh Group we are laser-focused on delivering the best possible service to our customers while always working on more sustainable solutions,” says Thomas Stroo, COO Benelux at HelloFresh Group. “Following this strategy, building up an electrified fleet of cooled vans was a logical step for us. Incidentally we have now built up the largest refrigerated, electrically powered delivery fleet in Europe, an achievement I am very proud of,” he continues.

Establishing our own fleet provides sustainability as well as customer benefits.

Pilot project for a more sustainable middle mile

In 2024 we have launched a pilot project to design the middle mile, the transport between the central distribution centre and the various hubs, more sustainable. By using an electrically powered truck HelloFresh will save some 191,000 kg of CO₂ emissions annually. The Volvo FH Electric has a range of 300 km, a gross combination weight of up to 44 tonnes and charges in just 2.5 hours with a DC 250 kW charger. 175,000 kg of CO₂ will be saved thanks to the avoidance of gasoline, usually powering the trucks, and another 16,000 kg of CO₂ thanks to an electric-powered cooling system, instead of a diesel-powered variant. This initiative marks an important step towards the goal of a completely emission-free delivery. 

Electrifying the middle mile is the next step towards a more sustainable logistics solution.

HelloFresh’s commitment to decarbonize its supply chain from farm to fork 

Electrifying the last and middle mile is just one important measure to lower the environmental footprint of our supply chain and thus reach our sustainability goals. Thanks to the set-up of our data-driven direct-to-consumer business model and our usage of pre-portioned ingredients and therefore less food waste, cooking a meal with HelloFresh in Belgium and the Netherlands produces 11% less greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable meal from the supermarket. On a global average, that is even 25% lower carbon emissions over the whole life cycle. This was confirmed by an ISO 14040-compliant life-cycle assessment (LCA) by Quantis, an environmental sustainability consultancy, in 2022.

"The deployment of electric trucks in our pilot project is an important milestone in our efforts to become more sustainable. Not only are we reducing our CO₂ emissions, but we are rethinking our entire supply chain to reduce our environmental footprint. This project shows how actively we are working on innovative solutions that have a lasting positive impact on both the environment and our community," concludes Thomas Stroo, COO Benelux at HelloFresh Group.