HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate in 2024
HelloFresh and Chefs Plate are two of the biggest meal kit delivery companies in Canada. Both HelloFresh and Chefs Plate provide a great service to Canadians, but there are differences between them. HelloFresh started delivering food subscription boxes in Germany in 2012, quickly expanding to Europe, the USA, and Australia. When HelloFresh came to Canada in 2016, they acquired Chefs Plate.
Whether you choose Chefs Plate or HelloFresh, they both have a great reputation and you won’t be disappointed. Some Canadians consider Chefs Plate a budget version of HelloFresh. Is that so? Let’s compare Chefs Plate vs HelloFresh to see how similar and different they are.
Hello Fresh vs Chefs Plate – Which is the best?
What is a Meal Delivery Service?
A meal delivery service lets you order food to your door. The best food subscription boxes come with fresh ingredients and instructions to follow to cook each meal. HelloFresh and Chefs Plate are considered two of the leading meal kit delivery services in Canada.
Chefs Plate vs HelloFresh Comparison
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed review | Chefs Plate Review | HelloFresh Review |
| Established | 2013 | 2016 |
| Delivery area | AB, BC, MB, NB, NS, ON, PE, SK | AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK |
| Number of meals to choose from each week | 26 | 35+ |
| Meal Plans | 4-20 servings per week | 6-20 servings per week |
| Сooking time (min) | 15-30 min | 20-30 min |
| Google Rating | ||
| Downloadable App | ||
| Price per serving | From $2.99 | From $9.25 |
| Weekly Total (3 Recipes, 2 people) | $47.96 | $73.00 |
| Packaging | Recyclable or compostable | Recyclable or compostable |
| Discounts | Students, Seniors | Students, Refer a Friend Program |
| Dietary Needs | No recipes for allergies, limited dietary options | No recipes for allergies, reduced KCal and carb options |
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Key Takeaways for Chefs Plate vs HelloFresh
HelloFresh is the first global carbon-neutral meal kit company so the most environmentally friendly option. However, when it comes to packaging, both brands deliver your food in packaging that can be recycled or composted.
In terms of meal variety, HelloFresh offers more recipes to choose from, 35+ versus the 26 with Chefs Plate, and serves more areas in Canada. If we compare cooking time with HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate, we can see that most HelloFresh meals need more time than Chefs Plate meals to cook. While Chefs Plate meals are simpler and easier to cook than HelloFresh, they taste equally good and use equally fresh ingredients.
If you are on a tight schedule or budget, Chefs Plate will be your best option, as it offers a good variety of healthy and nutritious meals that do not take a lot of time to cook. HelloFresh, on the other hand, offers more variety, which may be important to you. Both companies provide clear cooking instructions with pictures that even novice home cooks will be able to follow.
Both receive an excellent rating on Google from happy customers, so you could always test each brand first, then decide which one to continue with.
Other customers also find the following meal kit delivery comparisons useful: HelloFresh vs. Goodfood, Fresh Prep vs. HelloFresh, and Chefs Plate vs. Goodfood. You might want to look at these too, to help you pick the perfect meal kits for you and your loved ones.
Pros & Cons: Hello Fresh vs Chefs Plate
Let’s look at the pros and cons of each brand to see what their biggest advantages and disadvantages are:
| Chefs Plate Pros | HelloFresh Pros |
| ✔️ Lowest meal price available | ✔️ Fresh, high-quality ingredients |
| ✔️ Free shipping on most orders | ✔️ Sustainability: carbon-neutral company |
| ✔️ Offers a smaller plan | ✔️ Website and phone app easy to use |
| ✔️ Fresh, high-quality ingredients | ✔️ Some recipes are customizable |
| ✔️ Recyclable packaging | ✔️ More weekly variety in recipes |
| ✔️ Discounts for students and seniors | ✔️ Discount for students |
| Chefs Plate Cons | HelloFresh Cons |
| ✖️ Limited dietary options / No recipes for allergies | ✖️ No free delivery ( only on the first box ) |
| ✖️ Less variety in the weekly menu | ✖️ More expensive than Chefs Plate |
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Pricing and Shipping Charges: HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate
The cheapest meal kit serving with Chefs Plate starts at $2.99 and with HelloFresh it starts at $9.25. Both brands offer premium meals, with unique or exotic ingredients that cost extra on top of your weekly subscription.
Chefs Plate doesn’t charge for shipping, except on the smallest plan. HelloFresh charges for delivery on all orders, regardless of the subscription box you choose. Only the first box has free delivery. HelloFresh now offers a flat delivery fee of $9.99 across Canada, including Newfoundland.
HelloFresh has more than 35 recipes to choose from and bases its pricing solely on the number of people you’re ordering for and the number of recipes you want. You can choose from any of the meals available each week. That means that vegetarian vs meat meals don’t differ in price, unlike with many meal kit companies. Here are the prices per serving on the different weekly plans available. Shipping is included in these figures:
HelloFresh:
| 3 Recipes | 4 Recipes | 5 Recipes | |
| 2 People | $14.82 | $13.86 | $13.59 |
| 4 People | $12.41 | $11.68 | $10.54 |
Chefs Plate also lets you choose from all of the items on the weekly menu (24 meals), rather than make you pick a specific plan based on diet. That means that the price of meals doesn’t change for Chefs Plate either. Whatever you see on the Chefs Plate menu, will work out to the price per serving outlined below:
| 2 Recipes | 3 Recipes | 4 Recipes | 5 Recipes | |
| 2 People | $11.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| 4 People | $8.99 | $8.99 | $8.99 | $8.99 |
You’ll note from the Chefs Plate prices that there are only two pricing tiers, additionally, prices don’t come down with the more recipes you order, only with the amount of people you order for. This is probably because they’re already among the cheapest prices on the market, so they probably can’t be reduced any further.
Meal Plans and Customization
HelloFresh lets you swap ingredients for some meals, so this could be an important factor if you have a fussy eater at home. Just look for recipes labeled ‘Custom Recipe’ and it will give you options for ingredients you can swap.
HelloFresh also offers a wider range of categories and more specialized dishes like family-friendly, low-carb, low-calorie, vegetarian, high protein, and more.
Chefs Plate doesn’t have as wide a range but they do offer recipes that are vegetarian and family-friendly. They also have a limited number of customizable meal options where you can swap ingredients.
HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate Meal Choices
| | | |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed review | Chefs Plate Review | HelloFresh Review |
| Mutton, Lamb | 0 | 0 |
| Pork | 3 | 8 |
| Beef | 3 | 3 |
| Chicken | 2 | 10 |
| Vegetables | 3 | 12 |
| Mushrooms | 1 | 0 |
| Seafood | 2 | 2 |
| Turkey | 1 | 1 |
| Cheese | 2 | 2 |
| Low Carb Meals | ||
| List Of Allergens | ||
| Promo Codes | Visit website | Visit website |
Overall, both Chefs Plate and HelloFresh offer similar food categories, but HelloFresh offers more variety with pork, chicken, and vegetable meals. Chefs Plate offers mushroom-based meals, and both companies have an equal amount of seafood, turkey, and cheese meals on their menus as well. (Neither Chefs Plate nor HelloFresh offers mutton or lamb meals. For these, you may try Goodfood, as they usually offer at least one lamb meal per week.)
A vegetarian meal kit plan isn’t necessary with either of these companies since you can order anything on the menu. Both HelloFresh and Chefs Plate offer some vegetarian meals from different world cuisines. Here are some sample meals (including one vegetarian) that have been offered by these meal kit companies.
| Chefs Plate | HelloFresh |
| • Texan-inspired beef enchiladas with creamy charred applewood corn | • Fresh mozzarella and farro bowls with marinated chickpeas |
| • Chipotle black bean bowls with fresh tomato salsa | • Sheet pan chicken tikka with buttery flatbreads |
| • Air fryer tuxedo shrimp with edamame and sugar snap peas | • Seasoned shrimp and roasted potatoes with feta salad |
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Dietary Friendliness
Neither brand offers specific recipes for allergies or strict diets. However, HelloFresh does have Calorie Smart recipes (650KCal or less) and Carb Smart (less than 50g of carbs) recipes. You can also swap certain ingredients in some of their meals, so this is useful if there’s something you or your loved ones can’t or don’t like to eat.
Discounts / Promo Codes: Hello Fresh vs Chefs Plate
HelloFresh offers an excellent discount on your first box (more than 50% off most of their subscription boxes). You can also benefit from the Refer a Friend Program; HelloFresh will credit your account with $25 if you get a friend to subscribe using your referral code. Students can enjoy up to 22 free meals in their first month with HelloFresh.
Chefs Plate offers more than 50% off your first box and significant discounts on your second and third-week boxes too. Chefs Plate also offers a Senior Discount for over 60s; 50% off the first box, then 10% off all subsequent boxes. There’s also a Military Discount (CF1 Members), who will also get 50% off their first box and 10% off all subsequent boxes. With Chefs Plate, students get 50% off their first box, 25% off their second box, and 20% off their third and fourth boxes.
Packaging / Delivery
When it comes to packaging, both brands place an emphasis on using environmentally friendly materials and use boxes that are recyclable and kit bags that are compostable.
HelloFresh delivers to 95% of Canada’s population. The company covers Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Québec, Newfoundland, and the Maritimes. The first delivery is free, then it costs $4.99, except for deliveries to Newfoundland which cost $19.98.
Chefs Plate delivers to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba. Chefs Plate offers free delivery on all plans except the two-person box with two meals per week, with a $6 delivery charge.
Customization Options: HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate
Understanding the customization options available can significantly influence the Chefs Plate vs HelloFresh decision for many users. HelloFresh offers an extensive range of customizable meals, which is ideal for individuals with specific dietary needs or preferences. You can modify ingredients in many of their dishes, ensuring that what you cook aligns perfectly with your dietary goals.
Conversely, Chefs Plate provides fewer customization options, focusing instead on simplicity and speed in meal preparation. However, they do offer some flexibility with their recipes, which can be appealing for those who prefer a straightforward cooking experience without the fuss of too many choices.
Ultimately, when comparing HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate regarding customization, potential subscribers should consider their need for personalization against the backdrop of each service’s offerings. This could be a deciding factor for those who value a tailored eating experience.
Customer Reviews: Chefs Plate vs Hello Fresh
You may find customer reviews a useful way to get up-to-date, firsthand information on a company. We’ve given you an overview of HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate below on Trustpilot and Google. But, if there’s an important factor that would sway you (e.g. deliveries are on time in your area), do a quick search online and filter by your need. Or, you can just try both of these companies out with our heavily discounted starter prices and make the decision after a few weeks of receiving and cooking your meals.
Trustpilot
HelloFresh Canada got an average of 3.9 stars out of five on Trustpilot. To give you an idea of the most positive and negative ratings, 45% of reviewers gave five stars and 6% gave one star. Most are really happy with HelloFresh and some of the most common positive themes were around the variety of recipes to choose from, the convenience and ease of ordering, and how simple the recipes are to follow. Some of the negative experiences were around ingredients going off before the use-by date, and the plastic packaging some items come wrapped in. Here is a well-balanced review left by one customer:Customers give Chefs Plate (Canada) an average star rating of 3.7 out of 5. On the whole, customers like the variety, portion sizes, how easy the recipe cards are to follow, and how fresh the ingredients are. Some customers have mentioned that more kid-friendly meals would help and that they’d like to be able to swap vegetables and not just the protein portion of a meal.
“We have enjoyed HelloFresh for over a year. Excellent portion sizes, we tried new things, my other half takes over while I wait for dinner to be read and its economical. We have paused our account without any hassle and engaged when we could enjoy HelloFresh meals based on our schedule. We easily skip weeks, add extra meals other weeks and some months we enjoy a weekly delivery. HelloFresh delivers what they are promoting.“
Customers give Chefs Plate 3.8 out of 5 stars on Google. Many customers love how tasty the meals are and are easy to cook (plus, they include photos of meals they’ve cooked). Most say the freshness and quality of the food is one of their favorite aspects, whereas some customers said they’d had the opposite experience and received vegetables that were wilted or had gone rotten.
“Love it!! The meals we have picked are very easy to make and exceptional in flavour! I love that everything is included in the perfect portion. No guesswork! In less than 30 minutes we’re sitting and enjoying our supper! I would highly recommend Chefs Plate to anyone who has time limitations and wants nutritional meals. Lots of different choices in whatever category you choose. We are really enjoying our selections!“
Verdict: HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate
Since Chefs Plate is a subsidiary of HelloFresh, the two meal kits have a lot in common. They both deliver fresh and high-quality ingredients for your dinners, along with detailed instructions on how to cook them. They both utilize well-engineered packaging that can keep your order fresh on your porch until you place it in the fridge. Both meal kits will help you save food waste, save time on grocery shopping and meal planning, as well as allow you to learn new cooking skills and experience new cuisines.
While Chefs Plate and HelloFresh clearly have many similarities, they also differ in several key ways. Chefs Plate prioritizes flexibility and affordability. They offer many different meal plans to best suit your household’s needs, and they work at keeping their costs as low as possible. Additionally, Chefs Plate meals typically take less time to cook because they are designed to be less complex. Meanwhile, HelloFresh emphasizes premium food quality and a larger variety of meals. While these features are extremely valuable to many consumers, they obviously come at a price. Finally, HelloFresh also boasts a wider delivery area compared to Chefs Plate, but HelloFresh doesn’t offer free delivery, whereas this is possible with most of Chefs Plate’s plans.
The bottom line of our HelloFresh vs Chefs Plate comparison is that both companies are definitely worth a try. While Chefs Plate is the more budget-friendly version over HelloFresh, this doesn’t mean that Chefs Plate offers lower-quality food. In fact, the two meal kits are very similar when it comes to factors like the freshness of their ingredients and the quality of their meals. Chefs Plate is simply more affordable than HelloFresh because they are not as focused on meal variety and delivery areas. Ultimately, when you’re deciding between Chefs Plate vs HelloFresh, keep in mind your top reasons for trying meal kits and what’s important to you (e.g. price). If you can’t decide, both companies offer excellent promotions for first-time customers so you could try each one for yourself and then make your choice.
Read our other meal kits comparison articles:
- HelloFresh vs Blue Apron
- Blue Apron vs Home Chef
- HelloFresh vs Goodfood VS Chefs Plate
- Chefs Plate vs Fresh Prep
- HelloFresh vs Cook It
- Chefs Plate vs Goodfood
- Fresh Prep vs HelloFresh
- HelloFresh vs Goodfood
- HomeChef vs HelloFresh
- Budget-friendliness
- Flexible ordering system
From $2.99 Per Serving!
- Extensive meal variety
- Highest quality food. Get a total of $200 off for
Frequently Asked Questions:
HelloFresh acquired Chefs Plate in October 2018, enhancing its presence in the Canadian market. They are part of the same company but the brands operate separately and offer slightly different services and features. Both are leading food box companies in Canada and each has an excellent reputation and a loyal customer following.
