- Meal kit maker HelloFresh is laying off 611 workers and closing a Richmond, California warehouse.
- It's one of two facilities that voted against unionizing in 2021.
- HelloFresh and rivals like Blue Apron have struggled with profitability as society opens back up.
Meal kit maker HelloFresh is laying off over 600 employees and closing a facility in the Bay Area, according to California state records.
The company notified 611 workers at its Richmond, California warehouse on October 10 that it plans to eliminate their roles as of December 11. HelloFresh notified the State of California under the requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The layoffs are associated with the permanent closure of the facility, according to the notice.
The warehouse itself, located at 2041 Factory Street in Richmond, is currently listed for lease, according to PropertyShark.
HelloFresh did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The Richmond facility is one of two warehouses in the US where HelloFresh employees attempted to organize a union last year. The other warehouse that saw a union drive is in Aurora, Colorado.
Workers at both facilities voted against creating a union, industry publication Food Dive reported in December.
Like many grocery delivery players, HelloFresh saw sales rise in the early months of the pandemic. The company ships ingredients and recipes to customers, allowing them to prepare their own meals and hone their cooking skills.
HelloFresh has continued to grow sales in 2022 even as rivals such as Imperfect Foods saw their sales fade as the pandemic waned.
But HelloFresh's EBITDA fell nearly 23% in the six months through June 30, according to a recent earnings report. Shares of the Berlin-based company are down roughly 68% so far in 2022, falling farther than the broader market.
Rival meal kit company Blue Apron's shares have seen a similar rout, falling 67% year-to-date.
Last year, HelloFresh started allowing customers to add other grocery items to their regular meal kit deliveries. US CEO Uwe Voss told Insider at the time that HelloFresh was trying to capture a greater portion of consumers' overall grocery budgets — a tactic that often helps grocers improve their profitability.