Just under a year since launching an initial pilot program with HelloFresh Group, Massachusetts-based Locus Robotics announced June 23 that a hardware modification developed for the meal kit and prepared-meal delivery company enabled a fivefold expansion in chilled fulfillment capacity.
Locus Orgin robots navigate a HelloFresh chilled fulfillment facility.
The increased chilled fulfillment capacity accommodates greater meal variety for HelloFresh Group, which delivered more than 211 million meals across eight brands in Q1 2026. More choices for customers open the door to additional revenue opportunities across the brand portfolio, especially following a first quarter in which total orders fell 11.6 percent year-over-year, and revenue dropped from $1.9 to $1.7 billion.
“Our customers expect more choice, more flexibility, and a consistently great experience,” Brad Mesloh, HelloFresh’s associate director of strategic design, said in a press release. “Delivering that in a chilled fulfillment environment requires precision, speed and technology that can adapt to the complexity of our operations.”
Mesloh described the Locus Robotics platform as faster, safer and requiring less space than alternative operations evaluated by HelloFresh. Additionally, he reported a smooth, expedited implementation, with deployment “much quicker and simpler” than legacy systems.
Locus Robotics operates in roughly 12,000 square feet of HelloFresh’s chilled fulfillment space, including two high-speed meal kit picking lines. In some cases, the autonomous robots transport orders from induction to drop-off.
Locus Robotics described the fulfillment capacity-increasing hardware modification as a heated motor enhancement, along with related charging modifications designed for operation and charging in cold storage environments.
“HelloFresh is scaling one of the most demanding fulfillment models in the market: high volume, high variety, and temperature-controlled from start to finish,” said Jasmine Lombardi, Locus Robotics’ chief customer officer, in a press release. “By increasing capacity and expanding automation across HelloFresh’s portfolio of brands, Locus Robotics is enabling greater meal choice for its customers while maintaining the speed and precision its fulfillment model demands.”
Locus Origin robots first deployed with Factor, a fully-prepared meal delivery brand in the HelloFresh portfolio, in July 2025. The fleet averaged a mission time of 3 minutes and 35 seconds from order induction to box drop-off. Within three months of the initial pilot, HelloFresh expanded the deployment, adding 26 robots, with plans to add fulfillment for EveryPlate, another HelloFresh brand, later this year.
While HelloFresh is the dominant player in the U.S. meal kit delivery services space, according to a 2026 market analysis report from Grandview Research, it is not the only company in the space to have tested and benefited from warehouse automation.
U.K.-based recipe box provider Gusto took steps to automate its factories, such as installing robot arms at the end of production lines, according to a January 2026 report by Gusto software engineer Tom Aston.
Additionally, Cafe Spice, which prepares ready-to-eat meals for retailers like Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods and Kroger, uses AI-enabled robotic assembly and advanced packaging technology through Chef Robotics to achieve two nearly fully automated production lines, according to a Jan. 13 press release.
With warehouse automation increasing fulfillment capacity and other operational efficiencies, AI-powered robots appear poised for expanded use in the meal kit and fully prepared meal space.
