HelloFresh has cited the UK’s return to office working for a surge in sales and a 30% year-on-year increase in its 15-minute meal options.
Time pressure resulting from workers spending more of their week commuting to and from the office was “clearly reshaping behaviour” the meal kit brand said.
Now nearly half of all HelloFresh meals (45%) are cooked in under 25 minutes, up from 37% in 2020, while during the busiest weeks of 2025, more than 60% of meals ordered were ready in under 25 minutes.
Orders of HelloFresh’s prepared in under 15-minute meals have increased almost fivefold since 2022, it revealed.
“Hybrid working has changed how people experience weekday evenings,” said Mimi Morley, senior recipe development manager at HelloFresh. “Commuting days are more pressured, but our data shows people haven’t lowered their expectations around food.
“Instead, they’re looking for ways to cook nutritious, home-cooked meals more quickly, so they can still sit down together and enjoy dinnertime, even on busy office days,” she added.
Stricter employers
September research by Indeed found employers have become stricter about hybrid work, with 85% of UK job postings that mention a hybrid schedule requiring at least two days a week in the office compared with 65% in 2022. A further 25% require at least three days, up from 20% in 2023.
Research conducted by HelloFresh and Savanta found 58% of workers reported their weekday evenings “feel more pressured” on days they commuted compared with days they worked from home, and 61% said time pressure directly affected what they chose to cook on office days.
More than half (54%) said they had changed how they cooked during the working week as a result of increased office attendance.
The pressure was most pronounced among core hybrid-working groups. Sixty-nine per cent of workers aged between 25 and 44 said speed was a key factor when choosing what to cook midweek, rising to 63% among parents, compared with 54% of non-parents.
HelloFresh has been working to expand its menu, and now offers 80 recipes each week, with all core recipes now customisable.
To meet the rise in demand from commuting customers, it has ramped up its ‘quick & fast’ menu with a 50% increase in recipes.
HelloFresh UK & Ireland CEO Philip Doran told The Grocer: “We’re on track this year to more than double the size of our menu, and in addition to that introduce a lot of flexibility and customisation.”
The increase in customisation and range had come as the result of “a huge operation behind the scenes” Doran said.
“It requires very strong forecasting capability and a really slick supply chain operation and a lot of tech goes into it as well. It’s a cap that’s not super easy but we’ve invested a lot. The customer front-end experience feels very seamless but behind the scenes there’s a lot of cogs turning,” he added.
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