HelloFresh is taking a major step towards vertical integration with the purchase of a meal kit delivery provider.
The global meal company announced it is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Australian refrigerated courier company BeCool, which is the primary logistics provider of a number of meal kit companies including HelloFresh competitor Marley Spoon.
BeCool is the largest independent refrigerated courier network in Australia, according to HelloFresh, and provides 100 per cent of Marley Spoon's logistics services.
The acquisition is another move in HelloFresh Australia’s strategy to secure critical parts of their supply chain through vertical integration, the company said.
“For growing food e-commerce businesses like ours, access to a strong network of refrigerated couriers is absolutely crucial in ensuring stable operations,” HelloFresh Australia’s CEO Tom Rutledge said.
“As well as bringing certainty to this critical part of our supply chain, this acquisition is attractive as it would lead to a greater level of control and reduction in operating costs.”
Every month HelloFresh delivers 2.5 million meals around Australia, so the scale and continued strong growth of HelloFresh makes such transactions feasible, according to the company.
“We are able to explore opportunities like this because we are growing faster than ever. The scale of our customer base alone gives us sufficient density to run our own logistics network,” Rutledge said.
BeCool’s owner David Parkinson said, “The immediate focus will be to further streamline the operations with HelloFresh and remain the best refrigerated courier solution in Australia, whilst continuing to grow our national footprint.”
