They first started delivering meal kits to paying customers in early 2012, and expanded to The Netherlands, UK, US and Australia the same year.

[16] In 2019, Rocket Internet sold its remaining stake in HelloFresh by accelerated book building to international institutional investors.

Just 8 months later on 20 December 2022, HelloFresh announced their withdrawal from Japan with the CEO Thomas Griesel admitting failure in his ability to drive reasonable ROI.

[22] On 27 September 2023, HelloFresh filed for bankruptcy in the Tokyo District Court with total debt of 3 billion yen.

[26] On 11 January 2024, after an investigation begun in 2022, HelloFresh was fined £140,000 by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), for sending millions of spam texts and emails, and contacting customers even after being asked to stop.

[28] As a result, they closed two distribution centers; one in Nuneaton, Warwickshire in the UK and one in Newnan, Georgia in the United States.

[42] Warehouse workers for HelloFresh in Aurora, Colorado, and Richmond, California, initiated a union drive with UNITE-HERE in September 2021.

[47] From December 2024 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is investigating HelloFresh over allegations that migrant children were working at the meal-kit maker's cooking and packaging facility in Aurora, Illinois, as recently as this summer.

The investigation also includes Midway Staffing, the agency responsible for hiring employees for the facility, to determine if child labor laws were violated.

[49] In October 2024, a union representing 79 recently dismissed HelloFresh workers has criticized the company, labeling the terminations as unjust and outrageous.

Workers from the Warwickshire warehouse staged a protest after their dismissals, which the Community Trade Union claims occurred following complaints about poor working conditions, including restrictive toilet break policies and questionable termination procedures.

Former workers have described the workplace environment as toxic, citing long waits for toilet access and alleging they were fired for raising concerns.

Union leaders have vowed to appeal the dismissals and criticized HelloFresh for not fostering a supportive environment for employees to voice their issues.