Nestlé buys US meal subscription service Freshly

Nestlé has acquired Freshly in a deal that values the prepared meal provider at $950 million, with further potential payments of up to $550 million.

Launched in 2015, Freshly is a weekly subscription service that delivers a menu of fresh, chef-cooked meals to customers across the US.

According to Nestlé, the company currently ships more than one million meals per week and its forecasted sales for 2020 are $430 million. The up to $550 million in potential earnouts will be contingent on the successful growth of the business.

In 2017, Nestlé bought an approximate 16% stake in Freshly in what it now says was a strategic move to evaluate and test the market.

Steve Presley, Nestlé USA chairman and CEO, said: “Consumers are embracing ecommerce and eating at home like never before. It’s an evolution brought on by the pandemic but taking hold for the long term.

“Freshly is an innovative, fast-growing, food-tech start-up, and adding them to the portfolio accelerates our ability to capitalise on the new realities in the US food market and further positions Nestlé to win in the future.”

Michael Wystrach, CEO of Freshly, added: “We are extremely excited to expand our relationship with Nestlé. Our mission is to make eating healthy easy by bringing nutritious, high-quality meals directly to customers’ homes. Convenience and nutrition are driving forces in the future of food, and our becoming a part of the world’s largest food company confirms that.

“With Nestlé, we will have access to resources, research and development, and years of experience that we can tap into to catapult our growth plans and move closer to our goal of being in every household in America.”

The transaction closed on 30 October.