Gousto was founded in 2012 with a bold ambition to change the way people shop and eat. Founder Timo Boldt, after working long hours in the finance industry, identified a gap in the market for healthy, convenient and sustainable home cooking options. At the time, off-the-shelf subscription technology did not exist, so the Gousto team built its own platform. This proprietary technology enabled Gousto to scale significantly and innovate its product offering into the service known today.
In its early days, Gousto focused heavily on performance marketing to acquire customers. Over time, the company expanded its marketing strategy to include brand-building activities and refer-a-friend offers. These channels have been key to growing Gousto’s customer base.
Gousto recognised early on that exceptional customer satisfaction was critical to sustainable growth. By delivering a great product and creating super happy customers, the company established a virtuous circle: satisfied customers referred friends, demonstrated greater loyalty, and placed higher order rates. This cycle encouraged Gousto to invest increasingly in enhancing the product experience. To sustain this virtuous circle, Gousto relies on a wealth of data points to understand precisely what drives customer satisfaction and to identify pain points that need addressing.
This data-led, customer-obsessed strategy enables continuous evolution, innovation, and enhancement of the offering, which is reflected in Gousto’s leading customer Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Gousto’s Recommender Algorithm – the ‘Spotify of food’ – offers a weekly selection of 200 recipes, automatically curated. Almost three quarters (70%) of all recipes purchased by customers come from the top 15 personalised recipe recommendations.
Gousto has made several significant updates to its subscription offering. In January 2025, Gousto began trials for next-day delivery. Technology is at the core of Gousto’s ability to deliver a personalised and seamless customer experience.
The recommendation model ranks recipes to show customers the most relevant options, using a transformer-based architecture that learns from customer ordering behaviour and a rich library of recipe information.
Gousto also uses a menu planning tool to select the best set of recipes each week, balancing customer relevance, variety and cost. Currently, this tool utilises a genetic algorithm but a new linear programming-based model will soon be introduced to provide improved optimisation and greater flexibility.
This is one of seven case studies in the brand new RetailX Subscription Report 2025.
Pets at Home, Cheesegeek, Who Gives a Crap, Hotel Chocolat, Look Fantastic and Hobbycraft are all looked at in detail.
The wider report provides an in-depth look at the ever-evolving subscription economy, offering retailers a roadmap to tap into this growing trend.
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