In the autumn of 2011, Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel, embarked on an entrepreneurial venture that would transform home cooking around the world.
Dominik and Thomas attended university together, both pursuing degrees in International Business Economics. The two had passions for entrepreneurship, and spoke for years about starting a business together.
Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel, Founders and CEOs of HelloFresh
After brief careers in consulting and investing, they moved to Berlin in early 2011. At the time it was a modest startup scene, and international talent and investments were scarce commodities.
1. From earlier entrepreneurial experiences, they learned a few valuable lessons:
2. Focus on large markets, as even a small share can lead to significant success.
3. Choose co-founders wisely; building a business is a rollercoaster, and having the right team is essential.
Pursue your passion—it sustains you through tough times.
With these principles in mind, they spent months researching, eventually identifying “Online Food” as a promising industry with only 1% penetration rate in Germany in 2011. Motivated by a shared love for high-quality ingredients, efficient cooking, and entrepreneurship they, along with co-founder Jessica Nilsson, took a blank sheet of paper and conceptualized what would later revolutionize the way people cooked—the meal kit model.
This idea involved delivering all the pre-portioned ingredients needed to cook a delicious meal, right to people’s doorsteps. In doing so, they simplified the process and eliminated the intimidation that home cooks often felt when cooking meals from scratch.
HelloFresh Founders Dominik Richter, Thomas Griesel, Jessica Nilsson
Though their hopes were high, the first year proved challenging, with limited demand and resources for their new business model. Still, they persisted, personally assembling the meal kits in co-working kitchens and engaging with potential customers at farmers’ markets and parks.
They soon discovered that people outside of Berlin were eager for the kits, which prompted the creation of their first “box,” allowing them to reach households all over Germany. As they continued to onboard more customers each day, they outgrew their co-working space and progressed to their first “Fulfillment Center,” which was a modest cold chamber rented from a meat wholesaler.
Today, HelloFresh is a global leader in the meal kit industry
Over time, the business continued to solidify, and the team defined its mission and DNA values, building a cohesive organizational structure that shared a common language.
Today, HelloFresh is a global leader in the meal kit industry, impacting households around the world every day with its innovative approach to home-cooked meals. Learn more about our meal plans and what makes HelloFresh unique by visiting our website here.
