My Food Bag fed more Kiwis over Christmas, with deliveries up 12%

Friday, 21 January 2022

My Food Bag delivered more of its meal kits of Christmas.

Meal delivery service My Food Bag found its way to more festive tables last year, with deliveries of its Christmas food box up 12 per cent on the previous year.

“More Kiwis than ever trusted My Food Bag to deliver a Christmas box,” the company’s board of directors said in a statement to the NZX. “The feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive and the business is delighted to have played its part in helping Kiwis celebrate Christmas with family and friends.”

Demand over Christmas was the highlight of the third quarter to the end of December, which recorded a 9 per cent increase in deliveries to about 388,000, the company said. At the end of the quarter, My Food Bag had 71,085 active customers, up 1.5 per cent on the same period the previous year.

The meal kit company, which listed on the NZX in March last year, has benefited from a surge in demand as many people avoided long supermarket queues and switched to online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic. However the company warned on Friday that it is experiencing inflationary pressures in its labour costs and produce pricing.

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Managing those cost pressures would remain a key focus over the fourth quarter, it said.

The company confirmed its earlier forecast for its full-year pre-tax profit to rise 18 per cent to $34.2 million as higher than expected revenue was offset by rising costs.

Its shares slipped 0.9 per cent to $1.13 in midday trading on the NZX. That lags behind the initial public offering price of $1.85.

My Food Bag is seeking to grab a greater slice of the country’s $37 billion retail food sector. It has widened its product offering to give customers more choice for their meals and prompt them to order more often.