HelloFresh has opened “The No-Need-To-Go-To-The-Store Store” at Antwerp Central Station, where commuters can pick up a complete meal kit to prepare at home. The pop-up will later move to Utrecht.
Decisions about dinner are made late
The temporary shop is located in the entrance hall leading to the underground tracks in the station, where around 40,000 commuters pass through every day. Travelers can pick up a “grab & go” meal package for two people (including a recipe card) for €9.90 and be back outside within minutes.
HelloFresh wants to reach commuters here, for whom arranging an evening meal often feels like a stressful task. Research commissioned by the meal kit producer shows that for one in five Flemish people, the decision about dinner is only made at the end of the working day. For almost half of them, thinking about, discussing, and arranging dinner is more frustrating than cooking itself. 56% often lack the energy or motivation to prepare a fresh meal after work, and among the younger commuting generation (25-34 years old), that percentage rises to 65%. As a result, more than half of commuters (52%) eat less healthily during the working week.
“Helping commuters”
“We know that the desire to cook fresh meals is there, but that after a day at work, people are often simply too tired,” says Thomas Stroo, Chief Operating Officer at HelloFresh. “With this initiative on the platform, we want to help commuters when they need it most: during the evening rush hour. For us, Antwerp Central is the ideal place to see how we can lower that threshold for commuters. We are curious to see whether this grab-and-go concept does indeed offer the peace of mind and convenience to choose a nutritious homemade meal even on busy workdays.”
The store will be open from February 3 to 21, 2026. After that, it will travel to the Netherlands, to Utrecht Central Station, from February 24 to March 14.
