Factor, America’s leading ready-to-eat (RTE) meal delivery service, announced the opening of a new production center in Goodyear, Arizona, to further scale the rapidly growing ready-to-eat brand. The 300,100-square-foot facility will serve as one of the largest industrial kitchens in the U.S., enabling Factor to provide more customers with healthy, premium, and convenient ready-to-eat meals right to their doorsteps.
Factor was born in 2013, out of Chicago, Illinois, with a singular focus to provide delicious, RTE meals that fuel active lifestyles. The brand has been on a strong growth trajectory ever since, working to perfect its supply chain and service, including how it sources ingredients, cooks meals, packages and ships them.
Since its acquisition in 2020, by the HelloFresh Group, Factor has been leveraging HelloFresh’s world-class direct-to-consumer capabilities and technology infrastructure, and achieved stellar growth, becoming the market leader within the U.S. ready-to-eat segment. Additionally, Factor has increased its menu offering by 75%, enabling consumers to choose among a wider selection of meals, including more keto, calorie smart, protein-plus, vegetarian, and vegan dishes.
“Ready-to-eat meals continue to be one of the fastest growing segments in the US, and I’m proud that Factor has become the market leader in this space, providing customers across the US with convenient, high-quality meals,” said Uwe Voss, CEO, HelloFresh U.S. “The addition of the Goodyear facility will allow us to increase capacity, serve more customers, and drive further significant growth to our business, all while offering a first class service. We’re grateful for the partnership with the city of Goodyear and look forward to continuing to support the local community.”
Factor has recently expanded outside of the U.S. to markets where there is a high adoption rate of direct-to-consumer ready-to-eat services. With its international expansion, Factor is now available in Canada (having launched early 2023), Belgium, and the Netherlands, where it launched last month.
The new Factor facility brings more than 800 new jobs to Goodyear, Arizona.
The chef-prepared, dietitian-approved Factor meals will be cooked from scratch on premise using only fresh, natural ingredients, premium proteins raised without antibiotics, and without the use of refined sugar and oils.
State-of-the-art automated technology will also be incorporated in the Goodyear facility to fulfill the increasing complexity of options offered to customers, and to streamline and accelerate production. The site also features sustainable operations, such as CO2 refrigeration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to serving Factor customers across the country, Factor will also partner with local food rescue organizations like St. Mary’s Food Bank to distribute fresh, surplus ingredients to community members facing food insecurity. To help fuel the next generation of culinary arts professionals, Factor is also partnering with the Buckeye Union School District in Goodyear to launch a mentorship program, which will offer students hands-on experience, career guidance and culinary skills coaching around topics such as kitchen management, food preparation techniques, food safety, and more.
The Goodyear site is HelloFresh Group’s second facility in the Greater Phoenix area with HelloFresh operating a distribution center at 1850 South 71st Avenue.
About Factor
Factor is a fully-prepared meal delivery service that is taking a whole new approach to fresh-prepared food. The company’s weekly rotating menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options are hand-crafted by gourmet chefs and optimized by dietitians. In addition, Factor offers 33+ weekly add-on options that customers can add to their subscriptions, including shakes, juices, snacks, proteins and desserts.
