​Post-Christmas is peak season for box delivery meal services. The New Year, New Me mindset drives a surge in sign-ups as households look for healthier eating, more structure and fewer ultra-processed foods after December’s excess.

In the Edmondson-Matthews household, the benefits have been immediate: less food waste, more convenience, and proper home-cooked meals without the planning headache. Yes, there’s a premium - but when you factor in reduced waste, fewer takeaways and time saved, it starts to look like a fair trade.

But this spike doesn’t just impact consumers.

Planning for the Peak

For meal kit providers, January is a predictable pressure point. Recruitment ramps up well before Christmas, with temporary and contract hires across:

• Warehousing and fulfilment

• Quality control and food prep

• Customer service and logistics

At the same time, suppliers - from growers and protein producers to packaging and distribution partners - must scale up fast. Forecasting errors or labour shortages can quickly turn into missed deliveries and unhappy first-time customers.

The Recruitment Ripple Effect

This surge creates knock-on demand across the supply chain. Farms need extra hands, logistics partners increase driver capacity, and food manufacturers supplying ingredients face tighter production schedules. January becomes a compressed period of high demand, high expectation and limited margin for error.

Small Premium, Big Test

Just as customers pay more for convenience and healthier choices, suppliers absorb higher labour and operational costs to get January right. For many businesses, this month sets the tone for retention, revenue and performance for the rest of the year.

January may be about personal resets - but for meal kit businesses and their suppliers, it’s the ultimate operational stress test.

Interested in discussing options for supplying the meal kit delivery businesses? We are working on a few roles with suppliers in this sector at the moment. Get in touch to find out more.