MEAL-KIT PROVIDER GOODFOOD ON FT'S LIST OF FAST-GROWING AMERICAS COMPANIES.

Canadian meal-kit provider Goodfood Market Corp. has made it to the top three on the Financial Times' 2021 list of fastest growing companies in the Americas.

The list ranks the Top 500 private and public companies by revenue growth from 2016 to 2019 and covers industries ranging from health and technology to financial services and e-commerce.

Goodfood, which delivers fresh ingredients in meal kits tied to specific recipes, was the top Canadian company and the first publicly traded company on the list.

Roslane Aouameur, the senior director of financial planning and investor relations, said the ranking was “motivating” and the company is continuing on its mission to disrupt the food industry.

“Everybody's pushing in the same direction to bring convenience to Canadians,” he said.

Goodfood, which was launched in 2014, has seen demand grow significantly during the pandemic, and its subscriber base stood at 319,000 as of this February, the company says.

Aouameur said catering to customer needs has been key to that growth, and that keeping pricing competitive and a providing good selection of products have been part of their strategic focus.

Goodfood reported record quarterly revenues of more than $100 million for the first time in February, an increase of $41 million yearover-year.

The meal-kit industry, which has roughly doubled in size since 2014, has taken off since the pandemic as people shifted to remote work and restaurants closed. Kitchen fatigue has played a role, too.

A study by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab in Halifax estimated 4.2 million Canadians started using the internet to purchase groceries or meal kits since the pandemic began.

In a study conducted by Oracle, 61 per cent of consumers reported that they bought groceries online during the pandemic. Ninety-two per cent of consumers surveyed said that they would continue to shop for groceries or food online going forward.

Aouameur said the mealkit market is currently an “underserved” segment in Canada and that Goodfood is tapping into it.

The company plans to expand its operations beyond Montreal and Toronto into other large urban centres in Canada and expand their current product selection to over 4,000 products in the coming months.

Goodfood, placed third on the Financial Times list, behind Upgrade Inc., a U.S.based fintech company and Samsara, a cloud-management leader that powers more than two million networks worldwide. The travel and leisure company Rented and California-based Outer Aisle rounded out the top five.