Freshly expands distribution operations by opening fifth facility in US

US meal delivery service Freshly has announced that it will open its largest dedicated order-assembly facility to date in Austell, Georgia.

The announcement comes after a year of growth for the company amid the popularity of at-home convenience food. In the last 12 months, Freshly has surpassed its goal of delivering one million meals per week.

The 134,000 square-foot facility – which will begin operating in mid-February – is excepted to increase Freshly’s assembly and distribution operations capacity by 40% this year for an additional 450,000 meals distributed weekly.

By being centrally located in the southeast, Freshly says the distribution centre will reduce the order-to-delivery cycle time to its growing consumer base.

Most recently, Freshly was acquired by Nestlé in a deal that values the prepared meal delivery service at $950 million. “Joining Nestlé has allowed us to scale bigger and faster, getting us to this next stage of growth,” said Mike Wystrach, Freshly founder and CEO. 

“We are thrilled to continue in 2021 by expanding operations in the southeast and have plans to add even more facilities this year that will help further our mission of delivering nutritious and convenient meals.”

The Georgia centre will mark the company’s fifth facility and comes a few months after it announced it was opening a facility in Commerce, California. Freshly also has facilities in New Jersey, Maryland and Arizona.

Freshly says the new centre will bring over 250 jobs to the greater Atlanta area. During the initial launch phase, the company will hire 150 people for operations, support staff, warehousing and maintenance roles, with plans to hire 250 by the end of 2021.

Rick Stoecklein, Freshly’s senior vice president of operations, said: “Our new Georgia facility creates opportunities to bring innovation to the direct-to-consumer distribution channel with added capacity for efficient assembly and distribution of fresh prepared meals. We are excited to expand Freshly’s footprint and to join the Austell community.”