HelloFresh has announced that its chief financial officer, Christian Gärtner, will step down by the fourth quarter of 2025 at the latest, as the meal-kit company navigates a more challenging trading environment.

The recipe box brand confirmed it has begun the search for his replacement, with a successor to be named in due course.

“The supervisory board extends its deepest thanks to Christian for his significant contributions to HelloFresh.” said HelloFresh supervisory board chairman John Rittenhouse. “His financial acumen and strategic guidance have been invaluable, and we wish him every success in the future.”

HelloFresh CEO and co-founder Dominik Richter “We are incredibly grateful for Christian’s leadership and unwavering commitment to HelloFresh over the past ten years.

“He has been instrumental in building a strong financial foundation for HelloFresh and a great colleague to work with. Without him, HelloFresh wouldn’t be where it is today. On behalf of the entire management board, I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

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Gärtner said: “It has been a great privilege to help develop HelloFresh from a fast-moving start-up to a company with more than EUR 7 billion revenue, strong AEBITDA and free cash flow, especially in partnership with my talented colleagues. I am confident that HelloFresh is in a very good position to continue to deliver great value to its customers, as well as strong earnings and free cash flow growth to its shareholders over the years to come.”, said

A former managing director at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, Gaertner joined the business in 2015 and has overseen the company’s financial growth through a period of rapid expansion,  particularly during the pandemic, when demand for home-delivered meal kits surged.

However, like many fellow convenience-based food services, HelloFresh has struggled to maintain momentum as cost-of-living pressures and a return to eating out have changed consumer behaviour.

The news of its CFO’s upcoming departure saw Shares in the business fall 3% on Tuesday morning, and are now down 11% since January.

However, the announcement also comes as the business continues to adapt to softer demand and shifting customer habits post-pandemic. Last year, the online meal-kit brand opened its flagship automated production facility in Derby, which it said was to act as a “launch pad for future growth and innovation” in the UK.

Earlier this year, it launched more premium ingredients to its core menu, and more fruit or vegetables into every meal, in a bid to improve variety in family diets.