In this short, sharp RetailCraft conversation, Ian Jindal chats with Timo Boldt, founder and Chief Executive of recipe-box innovator Gousto, to explore how a self-proclaimed “data company that loves food” is reshaping dinner for millions of UK households. In 20 minutes they unpack Gousto’s 13-year journey from kitchen table idea to profitable £308 million enterprise, its foray into B2B software via the Bento subscription platform, and Boldt’s ambition to raise Gousto’s UK “share of stomach” from 0.2 percent to 1 percent1. Listeners will enjoy candid reflections on everything from Netherlands expansion and AI-driven menu personalisation to the zen of walking factory floors at 5am.

Episode Summary

Gousto’s path has tracked—with uncanny timing—every macro-cycle in ecommerce food: mobile adoption, pandemic surges, funding booms and busts, quick-commerce exuberance, and the current shift from growth at all costs to durable profitability. Boldt explains why Gousto remains “deeply profitable” while many peers falter, how its eco-design “Eco-Chill” packaging saves 23 percent CO₂ per meal, and why he believes Bento can do for physical-goods subscriptions what Shopify did for storefronts.

At the heart of the episode is the tension every modern retailer navigates: providing limitless personalisation while operating a ruthlessly disciplined supply chain. Gousto’s answer is a vertically integrated tech stack, four automated fulfilment centres, and predictive algorithms that cut food waste, hold gross margins above 53 percent, and power a menu now exceeding 200 recipes per week.

We also chat about Timo’s personal journey: leaving a hedge-fund VP role at 26, moving into student housing to save cash, running early routes himself, and leaning on “learn-a-holic” instincts to conquer operations, funding, B-Corp certification and, most recently, AI.

About the Guest

Timo Boldt

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  Founder & CEO, Gousto (2012–present) — certified B Corp meal-kit pioneer valued at over £1 billion in 2020, now refocused on profitability and mainstream mass-market expansion.

  
  


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  EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year 2022, World Entrepreneur Class of 2023.

  
  


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  Member, Unilever Digital Advisory Board.

  
  


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  Executive MBA, Cambridge Judge Business School; undergraduate training in statistics fuels his obsession with data-driven iteration.

  
  

Key Topics & Timestamps

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  00:00 – Cold-open & scene-setting
  
  Recording in a “glass atrium” at Retail X; quick intro to Gousto and its 13-year trajectory

  
  


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  03:00 – Market purpose & climate math
  
  The 40 percent food-waste statistic and Gousto’s mission to remove hassle, guilt and CO₂ from dinner

  
  


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  05:00 – Growth vectors & 1 billion-meal TAM
  
  Boldt’s “share of stomach” framing; path from 5 recipes a week to 200; next-day delivery at £3.20 per portion

  
  


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  08:00 – Personalisation at scale
  
  Custom menus, 10-minute recipes, Wagamama tie-ins, protein-heavy “XL” range for hungry teens

  
  


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  11:00 – Founder back-story
  
  From Rothschild analyst to food-box evangelist; giving up salary for three years; California culinary inspiration

  
  


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  13:00 – Ireland launch & localisation learnings
  
  Seven weeks in market; podcast discovery channel; “zero-to-one” done, now “one-to-100” scaling

  
  


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  14:30 – Bento SaaS platform
  
  Packaging 13-years of tech for external merchants selling physical-goods subscriptions—beauty, liquor, pet food

  
  


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  16:00 – AI, automation & factory tours
  
  Four fulfilment sites, 80 million dinners per site per year; invitation to Ian for a 05:00 walkthrough

  
  


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  17:30 – International options
  
  Cultural hurdles in Germany (“dinner bread”), promise in Scandinavia, Netherlands and Australia

  
  


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  18:45 – Subscription advice for brands
  
  “Developer-to-domain ratio” heuristic; outsource generic infrastructure, focus resources on differentiated CX

  
  


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  20:00 – Future vision (next 10 years)
  
  Raising share of stomach, household-level nutrition kits, more plant-forward range, and fully recyclable packaging

  
  


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  22:00 – Favourite recipe & wrap-up
  
  Boldt’s vegetarian obsession, 10-minute meals, spice pre-portions, and the joy of never buying mystery jars again.

  
  

Quotes

“Our share of stomach is 0.2 percent—a drop in the ocean. Getting to 1 percent feels eminently possible if we obsess over value for money.”

“Forty percent of UK food is binned. Every Gousto box saves 7 kilograms of CO₂ compared with supermarket dinners.”

“Quick commerce is gone. We’re sitting on a £400 million business, deeply profitable and cash generative.”

“Developer-to-domain ratio matters: don’t burn engineers on generic subscription plumbing—buy it off the shelf.”

“I view Gousto as a data company that loves food.”

“The pace of change will never again be this slow; it only accelerates from here.”

 

--  Run time: 20 minutes

INFORMATION:

[ 🖥️ ]

Gousto's website - www.gousto.co.uk 

Gousto on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gousto/ 

 

[ 👨‍👧 ]

Timo Boldt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timo-boldt/ 

Ian Jindal: www.linkedin.com/in/ianjindal/ 

 

[ 📷 ] (c) Ian Jindal / www.instagram.com/ianjindal