HelloFresh Canada — Restaurant in Toronto

Extremely Dissatisfied with Today's Delivery Order.

I am writing to express my Extreme dissatisfaction with the delivery of my HelloFresh box today.

Several issues contributed to this negative experience, and I feel it's crucial to bring them to your attention.

First, your online ordering system lacks a field for specific delivery instructions beyond the basic "leave at the door" or "leave with a neighbor" options. I chose "leave at the door" but taped a large, clear note to my door explicitly requesting the delivery person to not simply leave the box. Instead, I asked them to ring my doorbell so I could remotely open the building's lobby door and my apartment door, allowing them to place the box inside the foyer.

Unfortunately, the delivery person completely ignored my instructions. They did not use the buzzer/intercom system, which connects to my cellphone and allows me to remotely grant access to the building. This system is in place specifically for deliveries.

I was expecting the buzzer to ring, signaling the delivery person's arrival in the lobby, and I was prepared to remotely open the doors.

The delivery person appears to have gained access to the building by following another resident, bypassing the proper entry procedure altogether. They then proceeded to my apartment door, where they not only failed to ring the doorbell or knock, but also disregarded the large, clearly visible note with my delivery instructions.

They even took a picture of the box at my door, with my note (bearing the HelloFresh logo) clearly visible in the photo!

The box was simply left there.

While I'm not concerned about theft (I trust the company would replace the contents), I am deeply troubled by the fact that my food was left unattended in the hallway. Many people pass through this area, and I'm uncomfortable with the idea of my food sitting there all day.

While I understand the packaging is sealed, I'm concerned about the overall "aura" surrounding the food after being left in a high-traffic hallway.

It's simply unappetizing to think about.

My specific complaints are:

Lack of Detailed Delivery Instructions: Your online ordering system needs a field for specific delivery instructions beyond the basic options.

Failure to Follow Instructions: The delivery person completely disregarded my clear and prominent note.

Improper Building Access: The delivery person bypassed the proper entry system, likely following another resident into the building.

No Attempt to Contact Me: No attempt was made to contact me via the intercom or by knocking on my door.

I strongly suggest that HelloFresh invest in better training for its delivery personnel, focusing on etiquette, customer service, and the importance of following delivery instructions.

It's disappointing to see so much investment in advertising when the final stage of the customer experience – the delivery – is so poorly executed. This experience has significantly impacted my perception of HelloFresh, and I will seriously reconsider placing future orders.

The length of this feedback reflects my level of frustration. I hope you will take my concerns seriously and implement changes to prevent similar issues from happening...

I received a complimentary box of HelloFresh through a referral code. This is the first time I've ever tried any meal subscription box and I'll pre-face this by saying I am not a cook, very limited experience in the kitchen. I usually just pop frozen things in the oven or make simple pasta/rice dishes.

I really like the experience of ordering online, the website was easy to navigate and offered simple menu options you can filter by protein, type of recipe, and portion size. I like that the variety was not overwhelming and everything looked quite tasty.

HelloFresh allows you to chose your delivery date - this arrived as promised within my alloted time slot. The tracking is accurate. The packaging was considerate for the food type and environment. There is minimal use of plastic, the insulated box is made of a recycled type of fiber and there were 3 ice packs that kept my food cold for hours. So even if you are not home to receive the box immediately, it can stay outside for quite a while.

I opted for 3 meals, each had servings for 4 people. I found the quality of the ingredients good, very fresh and the presentation and ease of following the recipes was without issue. What I love is how portion controlled these meal kits are - it feeds just the right amount of people and everything is measured out perfectly. No waste, no need to shop around or force you to buy full size items you may not need again. For example one recipe called for panko bread crumbs and 3 different types of spices - rather than buying full containers for each of those ingredients I may not re-use for another recipe, I'm glad these came in little pouches.

As someone who has little to no experience cooking, I found that the time it took to prepare these recipes from start to finish was longer than the estimated tim listed on the recipe card. Cleaning and chopping vegetables was a bit of a chore for me. If you have limited counter space and no dishwasher, it can become a bit challenging to prepare complex recipes with multiple tools and ingredients as the clean up will be longer.

I was still able to manage sucessfully and the end result was delicious. I've really enjoyed the options I've chosen so far, the recipes can be out of the ordinary and very different compared to what I would normally eat. Some of these dishes are restaurant quality!

I'm not sure this is any cheaper than going to a supermarket and picking your own groceries, but you are paying for the convenience - it saves you a trip and helps you stick to a budget when you know exactly what the upfront cost is. It also helps decision making as the recipes are there for you to follow, there is no searching or wondering what to cook.

Brilliant idea that can serve a good market. Personally, since I am not the main cook or shopper in my household, I am not sure I would subscribe to this service - and as someone who is not used to cooking things from scratch, I do appreciate having ready made meals in advance, I would be open to pre-prepared options for something quicker. Still something worth checking out, I have nothing bad to say about...

Hello Fresh recently invited subscribers to write reviews; we’ve been getting these boxes for more than a year now so it would be reasonable to conclude we’re very happy with the service and enjoying the meals. Yes and no. Yes, we’re enjoying the variety, the change from our regular menus and the convenience. But we find ourselves substituting ingredients and altering menus on a regular basis. The reason: salt.

Hello Fresh has been called out for the high sodium levels in its meals for years, yet it seems to have done nothing to lower sodium levels.

The recommended maximum sodium intake for an adult is 2300 mg per day. The meals we’re most interested in routinely have more than that per serving. Recently, we ordered the Indonesian-Style Stir Fried Noodles which was listed as having a whopping 2530 mg of salt per 431 gram portion – that’s more than the recommended salt intake for an ENTIRE day. We’ve never ordered any of the African-inspired dishes, such as the Peanutty Sweet Potato Stew, because of the shocking amount of sodium – 2660 per 613 gram portion.

Whenever possible, we substitute ingredients – low sodium soy sauce, lower sodium tomato sauce. Even Hello Fresh’s canned beans have more sodium than well-known grocery store brands. But much of the sodium is hidden in ingredients with no nutrition listing on the package, particularly the ubiquitous “spice packets” included with the boxes.

Other strategies for reducing salt include adding extra pasta, vegetables, etc. to try to expand the meals and reduce the amount of sodium per serving. So we have to make sure to look at the nutrition charts for each meal before choosing our menus and make a real effort to improve the health of the Hello Fresh meals.

Which is a bit ironic, since Hello Fresh touts itself as a healthy family meal alternative to fast food & restaurant meals. I certainly wouldn’t feed that much salt to children.

So why all the salt? We have to assume that the Hello Fresh food scientists are knowledgeable and competent. And that they’re not simply being lazy by using salt instead of choosing more creative spice options and combinations. Meals can also be high in sugar and cholesterol.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that humans are hard-wired to enjoy eating salt (and sugar and fat), and that our bodies crave them? So high-salt meals would naturally be appealing to most people.

Hello Fresh customers should be able decide, for ourselves, as much as possible, how much or how little salt to add to our meals. Creating special low-sodium options isn’t necessary. The use of other spices and having the option to add salt separately should be easy solutions.

Meanwhile, high sodium is a major factor in hypertension, heart attacks and strokes which are now leading causes of death. Hello Fresh can do better. It...