How to Fight Hunger: The HelloFresh Answer

Interview with Abigail Dreher from HelloFresh on Monday 27th November 2023

HelloFresh, the meal kit delivery service founded in 2011, serves more than seven million customers worldwide. In 2022, the company achieved a remarkable milestone by delivering more than one billion meals. Since its advent, the company's popularity has soared, quickly establishing itself as a trusted provider of quick, fresh and easy meals. However, if you were to ask a HelloFresh employee to summarize its purpose in a single word, it might not be "convenience." Compassion could be a more fitting descriptor, given the company's numerous ongoing initiatives aimed at combating hunger and addressing global food insecurity.

In a November 2023 interview with The Borgen Project, HelloFresh emphasized that addressing "food insecurity is an important part of our mission." Recognizing that more than 700 million people globally struggle with hunger, the company adopts a comprehensive and diverse approach to combat this pervasive issue.

HelloFresh extends its broad perspective beyond its employees and customers, recognizing its potential for global impact and actively engages in significant humanitarian efforts worldwide. In 2023, HelloFresh sent donations to assist those affected by the massive earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Additionally, in 2022, the company initiated a sustained campaign to offer aid to the 11 million Ukrainians facing food insecurity since the outbreak of war.

The assistance to Ukraine from HelloFresh involves the delivery of "more than 1,285 tons of food" from its "production facilities to the Polish Food Bank Federation in Krakow and Poznan and the Red Cross in Lublin, from where the food will be distributed among refugee families and across the border of Ukraine."

Additionally, the initiative continues to provide free meal kits to families in Germany who have generously opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees. HelloFresh has also created programs to allow refugees' seamless engagement with potential job opportunities within the company.

Donations are not just limited to "surplus food, ingredients" and "meal kits" (though plenty of these are included) but also incorporate "employee volunteer hours and monetary contributions" to organizations that are working towards similar goals.

HelloFresh operates on four simple principles that guide and govern its global actions against hunger. These principles serve as the foundation for keeping compassion at the core of all its operations. The company aims to:

1. Fight Hunger - make nutritious food available and accessible.
2. Think Local -work with communities and centers within its operating areas.
3. Prioritize Collaboration - create lasting, substantial partnerships to maximize impact.
4. Follow the results: put positive impacts first.

HelloFresh will continue to fight hunger for years to come. The years ahead hold the promise of more food donations, more beneficiaries and more impact. "We are always looking for new ways to give back," the company shared with The Borgen Project, expressing anticipation for "much more to come in 2024."