Dive Brief:

• HelloFresh took in 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in U.S. revenue during the first quarter of 2022, the first time it has surpassed the 1 billion euro mark in a single quarter in the United States, the German meal kit company reported Thursday. The figure represents a year-over-year increase of 27.6% in constant currency compared with the same period in 2021, when HelloFresh's U.S. sales came in at 802.4 million euros.
• The company expanded its active customer base in the U.S. to 4.25 million in Q1, a 15.2% increase compared with the 3.69 million customers HelloFresh recorded at the same point in 2021.
• HelloFresh has seen its growth rate decelerate sharply in recent months, but the easy-to-prepare food supplier remains comfortably ahead of where it was a year ago by several measures.

Dive Insight:

HelloFresh has been able to continue strengthening its business in the United States even as the extraordinary momentum it and other meal kit suppliers gained at the start of the pandemic fades.

The Berlin-based company saw the average order value in the U.S. — its biggest market — rise to 58.7 euros in constant currency in Q1, a 10.5% increase over the previous year. Across all of the 16 countries where the company operates, HelloFresh saw a more modest 6.5% increase in the average value of its orders by the same comparative measure, led by U.S. sales.

A year ago, however, HelloFresh was riding a much faster train. The company saw revenue more than double in constant currency during the first three months of 2021, both in the United States and worldwide. The company’s customer base in the United States was up 40% during that period, while the number of orders and meals delivered were both up by more than two-thirds.

HelloFresh cast its results for Q1 as an indication that its business has remained robust even as it moves beyond the high-octane sales environment fueled by COVID-19.

“By almost any measure. HelloFresh is today a much stronger company than we were, six or twelve months ago,” HelloFresh co-founder and CEO Dominik Richter said during the company’s earnings call Thursday, noting that the company’s global revenue of 1.9 billion euros was its best-ever quarterly showing.

HelloFresh saw its profitability decline in Q1 even as its sales rose as it battled inflation and other challenges. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the company’s U.S. operations came in at 83.3 million euros, compared with 92.5 millon euros for the first quarter of 2021. Nevertheless, HelloFresh still beat expectations for its performance during Q1, helping drive up its share price.

HelloFresh rival Blue Apron has not yet reported its results for the first quarter, but the company’s results for the fourth quarter of 2021 show that it, too, has been experiencing a slowdown. Blue Apron saw its customer base and net revenue both decline on a year-over-year basis during Q4, while it posted a wider net loss.