My Food Bag tests the water on possible IPO

New Zealand meal kit provider My Food Bag has confirmed it is considering an initial public offering (IPO) and is seeking indications of interest from customers and staff, with a potential listing on the NZX and ASX in the first half of this year.

Although no decision has been made on an IPO, from today the business is offering its 315,000 customers and all team members the opportunity to receive a priority allocation in the IPO, the company said in a statement.

Existing My Food Bag customers and staff will today receive priority registration instructions via email.

In addition, new customers who buy a My

Food Bag product between January 15 and March 1 will also be able to participate in the priority registration process.

No indication of interest will involve an obligation or commitment, the company said.

Chief executive Kevin Bowler said if the business lists, customers and team members will have the chance to receive a priority allocation in the IPO, ahead of everyone else.

Since launching in 2013, the business has delivered more than 84 million meals to Kiwis across its four brands — My Food Bag, Bargain Box, Fresh Start and Made.

The level of interest received will be a factor that informs My Food Bag’s decision as it considers an IPO.

If the business does list, it anticipates doing so within the first half of 2021 on the NZX and ASX, it said.

The company has talked about an IPO and listing for three years now.

My Food Bag is 70 per cent owned by private company investor Waterman Fund.

Co-founders Cecilia and James Robinson and Theresa Gattung each hold an almost 11 per cent stake in the company, while Nadia Lim and her husband Carlos Bagrie hold a 5.4 per cent stake, among others. My Food Bag was the first of its kind to launch in the market and began sending out food boxes across Auckland before expanding throughout New Zealand.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first lockdown earlier this year sent the business into overdrive.

It experienced an initial spike in orders in April, and in that time opened another Auckland boxing facility to keep up with demand, but the growth of between 10-20 per cent had sustained, Bowler told the Herald in October last year. “Effectively what we thought would happen over two or three years has happened over a period of months,” he said then.

“We’ve had a very strong year, partly because of an acceleration in trends towards more New Zealanders wanting to buy online . . . we’ve also seen a lot of our projects in innovation within the business do really well so that’s made a big difference,” Bowler said.

The company’s main competition in New Zealand is German company Hello Fresh — the biggest meal-kit provider in the United States.

We’ve had a very strong year, partly because of an acceleration in trends towards more New Zealanders wanting to buy online.

Kevin Bowler, CEO, My Food Bag