Food delivery startup Calo brands itself the “Nike of food”. By that, it means it’s “a mission-led brand with solutions for a wide range of customer needs”. Or, more plainly, it delivers healthy prepared meals via a subscription service.
Calo has the kind of rhetoric that is synonymous with tech businesses. And like such companies, it’s attracting its fair share of funding. On Tuesday, the Middle Eastern business announced it had raised $39m (£29.3m) in a Series B extension. That followed a $25m (£18.8m) raise in December.
UK expansion is now one of its key priorities. According to TechCrunch, founder Ahmed Al Rawi wants to multiply its UK revenue by 10 in the next three years, having identified it as the ”right market” for its proposition.
It’s an ambition worthy of note. Admittedly, the current UK revenue figure may be small fry: Calo launched here only in April, when it absorbed prepared meal delivery brands Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen.
But Calo claims to have built a solid portfolio elsewhere, having delivered “over 10 million meals delivered across five countries in 2024 alone”. So, what are its chances of success?
Tech appears to be the key to Calo’s appeal. Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen both operated as healthy food delivery business before their acquisition. So the premise itself isn’t new, certainly in the UK market.
Calo’s point of differentiation is its aim to make orders as simple as possible, through a clean user interface with personalised options. For example, users can choose a high-protein diet or a ‘chef’s choice’ that caters more to taste than fitness.
Pricing for the time-poor
Crucially, Calo entered the UK market promising “lower costs”. But at a starting price of £10 a day for lunch and a snack, it’s not exactly cheap. Three meals a day and a snack takes you up to a minimum price of £19.80.
When you consider the brand’s target market, though, the price isn’t a dealbreaker. Calo isn’t catering for families on a budget. Instead, it’s clearly aimed at the cash-rich and time-poor – having been “designed for busy lives”.
The likes of Deliveroo and HelloFresh have been cited as competitors. But Calo is clearly different from both. Deliveroo can charge its daily price of £19.80 for a single meal – and it’s is a one-off treat, rather than a healthy subscription service. HelloFresh, on the other hand, is a different kind of health-led subscription. Its meals require a degree of prep that can be off-putting for busy shoppers, in contrast to Calo’s prepared dishes.
It’s certainly a niche proposition, and it will take time to see if that $39m funding is justified. Or whether its comparison to Nike – the footwear brand or, indeed, the Greek goddess of victory that inspired the name – is vastly overblown.
But if Calo can raise awareness of its offer – it certainly has the funds to do so – and take the stress out of cooking for a time-poor population, it might just make a dent in the UK market.
No comments yet