Q&A: Gousto boss Timo Boldt on riding value, health and convenience into the ‘Champions League of start-ups’

Recipe box brand Gousto has today declared it’s in its “best shape ever” after announcing record EBITDA of £42m at double digit margins, a growth in revenues, and positive full year cashflows for the first time in the business’ 13-year history.

Last year was something of a period of consolidation for the brand, focusing on meeting the challenging economic conditions to improve its bottom line by focusing on profit and cash generation.

Despite this focus, the brand hasn’t stood still. In fact, in 2024, it expanded its menu range from 80 meals to 200 and began to expand into new territories – Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Having delivered on its 2024 goals, Boldt and Gousto are now focusing once again on growth in 2025.

Retail Week spoke to Boldt to discuss balancing its focus on profitability with innovating in its product offering, how health is coming to be as important for customers as convenience and value for money, its Irish expansion and plans for the rest of the year.

You’ve said 2024 was a year for focusing on profitability and cash flow. What did that look like from an operational and strategic standpoint?

“It was a big year for focusing on the customer. Really giving customers the recipes, ranges and service levels they have come to expect to drive retention and order frequency. A lot of our success last year came down to doubling down on retention and our NPS scores – which are the single most important metric in our business.

“We also invested heavily in the menu – going from 80 to 200 products. And every time we have launched a new product, we saw positive trading results. So, it was about keeping that flywheel going – making the product as good as possible, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in this space, while also focusing on the value proposition.

“Every single time that happened, our referral rates went up, as did our retention rates.”

Gousto has its own proprietary algorithms. How have they helped with developing the new product ranges?

“We have 17 AI products which power the business and our highly automated delivery facility in Warrington. Despite all of the new recipes, something like 80% of our recipes chosen by customers come from the sets we recommend to them.

“The 200 recipes per week is a lot of choice, but we know that’s what customers expect. In reality, 80% of that is just chosen from what we recommend. But that just means our personalisation engine has got a lot better, which is positive.

“AI also allows us to help limit price increases to less than 50% of grocery price inflation, which was a big help last year and in previous years with the cost-of-living crisis.

“Also, customers don’t want to compromise on health. Everyone wants to be healthy, and we know that. All the fully processed food we eat is bad and our tools allow us to continue focusing on delivering convenience without compromise at scale, keeping it personalised and customised, all while helping people with their goals of eating better on a budget.”

You’ve expanded into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. How has that been going, and what are the opportunities you see for Gousto there?

“With Northern Ireland in year one, we moved to 40% of market share. It’s not a massive place, but we’ve got fantastic and really loyal customers there.

“The Republic of Ireland is another dimension of complexity. So, it’s teaching us how to start with close to zero brand awareness in a new market, how to build a supply chain back up from square one in the European Union – as we’ve not traded in Europe for nine years. We’re learning things about retailing there that we didn’t have to learn with Northern Ireland.”

Any plans for Gousto to relaunch back on the continent at some point, off the back of the successful Republic of Ireland launch?

“At this point, we don’t have a plan. We just want to make the Republic of Ireland as successful a business as it can be. We’ve only been live there for 12 or 13 weeks. Now it’s about winning over the population, helping feed the Republic of Ireland, and localising the supply chains so that we can profitably grow the brand.

“Ireland has a rich and proud food tradition, where provenance and local produce is very important to customers. If we can profitably grow the business, could we look at a third European market? There’s no rush. We’re doing this in a disciplined way.”

What does the rest of 2025 hold for Gousto?

“It’s about growth. We have never stopped acquiring customers, but I feel we’ve had these really distinct phases of the business. We had hyper growth in the top line for 10 years and then, in the last few years, we’ve had hyper growth in profits – 64% growth last year.

“Now we’re in the Champions League of start-ups, where it’s all about the top and the bottom line. You need to have growth and profitability, not just one or the other and in a very self-sufficient way. That’s the challenge for the rest of the year, and beyond.”