Meal-kit giant begins drive to fill hundreds of roles at new Derby site

Meal-kit delivery business HelloFresh has begun its search to fill hundreds of new roles at its brand-new distribution centre in Derby.

With the help of Derby City Council, the firm is looking for people to work at the new centre, called ‘The Orchard’, which is due to open at the SmartParc SEGRO Spondon site this spring.

HelloFresh is the first business to move into the new high-tech food manufacturing and distribution campus, which is being created at the former British Celanese site.

It has now teamed up with the city council’s Economic Growth Service to find people to work at its new distribution centre, which will eventually employ up to 450 people.

Andy Smith, strategic director of people services at the city council, said: “HelloFresh is bringing good quality, sustainable jobs to the city, which will help to boost the local economy. They are in a great location on the state-of-the-art SmartParc SEGRO site, which is very well connected by multiple bus and train routes to and from the city centre.”

Laurent Guillemain, chief executive of HelloFresh UK, said: “We are really excited to be opening The Orchard, our new distribution centre in Derby, where we will become good neighbours and supportive of the local community. Hundreds of operations, distribution, and management jobs are available now.”

HelloFresh specialises in producing meal kits that include the recipe and ingredients to prepare nutritious meals.

Founded in Berlin in 2011, the company delivers to over 4.2 million households worldwide in more than 15 countries across three continents.

To help fill the roles at Derby, the city council will be holding an online Derby Jobs Live event tomorrow, where candidates will hear about a number of different roles – from warehouse and food packaging operatives to supervisory positions.

The session will also give details of how to apply to take part in special assessment days later in the month.

The Derby Adult Learning Service (DALS) will also explain how it can help candidates with writing or improving their CVs.

According to HelloFresh, many positions require little or no experience and all of them come with staff benefits, including discount on food boxes and a free breakfast for staff working in the office.

Laurent said: “We look forward to meeting lots of you at Derby Jobs Live and sharing more of what HelloFresh has to offer.”

Derby Jobs Live is a series of online recruitment events introduced by the city council to address changes in the labour market affecting many sectors as the country emerges from the pandemic.

To register for the HelloFresh Derby Jobs Live session click here.