Gousto has promised to shield customers from future spikes in food inflation thanks to the recipe kit provider’s reliance on AI tools to keep the costs of ingredients down.
It comes as revenue growth at the company hit the top end of forecasts for a 5% to 10% uplift in 2025, helping Gousto achieve a third consecutive year of underlying profitability, according to newly filed accounts.
Gousto warned the full consequences of recent global geopolitical tensions remained uncertain, but said it entered the period of volatility caused by the Middle East conflict in good shape and with a strong balance sheet.
“We are singularly focused on pulling every lever at our disposal and utilising the considerable strengths of our model to protect consumers through any further spike in food inflation,” said founder and CEO Timo Boldt.
“Throughout the cost of living crisis we have improved our value relative to the wider grocery market and will do so again now. Gousto is in a strong position to support consumers through active price containment measures and by continually improving every aspect of our offering so that we meet more households’ dinner needs from mid-week rushes to one-off occasions.”
Gousto added the group’s experience of food inflation so far this year had been contained to mostly just red meat, dairy and authentic ingredients shipped from Asia.
While there remained broader upward pressures, the company’s relationships with long-term suppliers enabled it to hold input costs at manageable levels.
Gousto said its tech-driven model was “ideally placed to shield consumers from the full inflationary impact of any future material spike in prices”.
From its bank of more than 9,000 recipes, Gousto’s menu algorithm, alongside its food development and menu planning teams, can select to keep the total ingredient cost stable. The AI system is also capable of swapping out more expensive ingredients, where prices have shot up, for lower-priced substitutes, such as sultanas for dried apricots in its Moroccan-Style Chicken with Lemony Couscous recipe.
Gousto added this ability had already limited price rises through the cost of living crisis to a below-inflation average of 5% a year.
“We can’t allow a repeat of 2022, when a spike in food inflation forced households into sacrificing their long-term health for over-processed, fat and salt-laden, cheap food fixes,” Boldt said.
“We will continue to deploy the full force of our AI-driven model to offer households an affordable, convenient and nutritious dinner solution. To date, this has allowed Gousto to protect consumers, by limiting our own price increases to 30% below those of the industry.”
Turnover jumped 10% last year to £342m thanks to the popularity of its more health and convenience-driven recipe ranges such as ‘Protein Hit’, ‘Calorie Controlled’ and ‘Pasta Pronto’. Gousto said demand for its expanding “healthy” ranges spiked 144% year on year, while “convenience” sales increased 23%, which included ‘One Pan Wonders’ and ‘10 Minute Meals’.
Relaunched “premium” recipes also received strong take-up from customers looking to save cash by trading dining out for “restaurant quality” food at home, Gousto added.
It contributed to the return to double-digit growth after two years of near-flat sales, as Gousto shifted its focus back to the top line.
Gousto hopes a move into ‘Nutrient Rich’ recipes designed for GLP-1 users this year will prove a success in 2026.
Gross margins held firm in 2025 at 55% thanks to improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, driving a record adjusted EBITDA of £45m, up 7% on 2024 and giving the business a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% over a three-year period.
An adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.2% (down on 13.5% in prior year) translated to a positive free cashflow for the second year in a row, which, along with sales growth and delivering a profit, meant Gousto hit all three of its financial goals for 2025.
However, operating losses nudged up from £2.9m to £3.3m last year as a consequence of higher distribution costs and administrative expenses. But pre-tax losses shortened by 37.7% to £12.7m thanks to a lower payment of share-based incentives to employees and reduced finance expenses.
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