The 2025 digital leaderboard every brand should have on the fridge
Hungry for a shortcut to success in the meal delivery market? This meal delivery industry analysis reveals the hottest meal delivery keyword opportunities and the brands stealing the biggest slice of the pie.
I’ve boiled Salience’s 69‑page report into an easily digestible overview that shows you who’s growing, who’s let their website go cold, and crucially, what it all means for you.
Which meal delivery brands dominate organic visibility?
| Rank | Brand | Monthly Organic Traffic |
| 1 | Hello Fresh | 442,644 |
| 2 | Gousto | 243,369 |
| 3 | Cook Food | 152,855 |
| 4 | Riverford | 126,841 |
| 5 | Pasta Evangelists | 73,097 |
| 6 | Odd Box | 67,208 |
| 7 | Wiltshire Farm Foods | 66,569 |
| 8 | Abel And Cole | 60,890 |
| 9 | Muscle Food | 60,093 |
| 10 | Frive | 53,311 |
Despite a modest 4% uplift in overall sector visibility this year, Hello Fresh and Gousto still enjoy the lion’s share of organic traffic. But there’s movement bubbling under the surface, and that’s where your growth headroom lives.
Who’s cooking with gas? The fastest YoY organic traffic growth
- Gousto +33% (now 243k visits)
- Frive +100% (53 k – turbo‑charged by its rebrand from Lions Prep)
- Prep Kitchen +53%
- Donald Russell +45%
- Wiltshire Farm Foods +24%
Frive’s leap is the headline grabber: 53,000 additional organic visits in a single year, delivered almost entirely by sharper keyword targeting and a polished new brand experience.
…and who’s burning the base?
- Hello Fresh ‑12%
- Allplants ‑91%
- Riverford ‑10%
- Pasta Evangelists ‑13%
- Farmison ‑14%
Algorithm updates targeting thin recipe content and Core Web Vitals appear to be the common denominators behind these dips – a reminder that technical health is still the table‑stakes of Meal Delivery search ranking factors.
Which meal delivery brands are most trustworthy?
TrustPilot sentiment still sways both Google’s quality algorithms and purchase decisions. Here’s the top ten for 2025:
| Rank | Brand | Avg. Rating | Review Volume | |
| 1 | Wiltshire Farm Foods | 4.6 | 56,081 | |
| 2 | Cook Food | 4.8 | 35,704 | |
| 3 | Parsley Box | 4.7 | 40,406 | |
| 4 | Riverford | 4.8 | 18,741 | |
| 5 | Muscle Food | 3.9 | 116,450 | |
| 6 | Odd Box | 4.6 | 18,692 | |
| 7 | Oakhouse Foods | 4.5 | 20,042 | |
| 8 | Mindful Chef | 4.4 | 19,618 | |
| 9 | Abel And Cole | 4.5 | 12,857 | |
| 10 | Frive | 4.6 | 8,095 |
Wiltshire Farm Foods’ balance of high score and hefty volume makes it the sector’s review poster‑child – a critical asset with Google’s EEAT emphasis.
Prominence & share of voice in the meal delivery market
Bringing Meal Delivery social engagement rate together with branded search demand shows where pure awareness lives.
| Brand Name | Site | Brand Searches Per Month | Owned Social Score | Rank |
| Hello Fresh | hellofresh.co.uk | 368000 | 5320 | 1 |
| Muscle Food | musclefood.com | 74000 | 2301 | 2 |
| Gousto | gousto.co.uk | 165000 | 801 | 3 |
| Riverford | riverford.co.uk | 49500 | 650 | 4 |
| Simply Cook | simplycook.com | 60500 | 382 | 5 |
| Green Chef | greenchef.com | 22200 | 1039 | 6 |
| Mindful Chef | mindfulchef.com | 60500 | 351 | 7 |
| Slimming World Kitchen | slimmingworldkitchen.co.uk | 5400 | 3869 | 8 |
| Abel And Cole | abelandcole.co.uk | 60500 | 317 | 9 |
| Odd Box | oddbox.co.uk | 60500 | 232 | 10 |
| Pasta Evangelists | pastaevangelists.com | 40500 | 263 | 11 |
| All Plants | allplants.com | 14800 | 253 | 12 |
| Wiltshire Farm Foods | wiltshirefarmfoods.com | 74000 | 49 | 13 |
| Simmer Eats | simmereats.com | 14800 | 221 | 14 |
| Prep Kitchen | prepkitchen.co.uk | 18100 | 147 | 15 |
| Donald Russell | donaldrussell.com | 27100 | 95 | 16 |
| Frive | frive.co.uk | 12100 | 162 | 17 |
| Planthood | planthood.co.uk | 6600 | 254 | 18 |
| OakHouse Foods | oakhousefoods.co.uk | 14800 | 106 | 19 |
| Cook Food | cookfood.net | 9900 | 152 | 20 |
Digital brand awareness describes how familiar consumers are with your brand or products online, whether they are searching for your brand or interacting with it on social media. For this ranking, we blend branded search metrics with the performance and reach of social channels for brands across the sector. Owned social score considers followers and engaged conversations on all major social platforms.
SlimmingWorld Kitchen’s 3,869 social score on just 5,400 searches proves you don’t need monster search volume to punch above your weight on engagement.
Meal delivery industry keyword trends for 2025
High‑competition staples (high search volume, tough SERPs):
food delivery near me, meal prep services, order food online, meal delivery services
Opportunity sweet spots (lower difficulty, still high search volume):
low-carb ready meals, party food delivery, vegan meal delivery, fresh meal prep
Working these phrases into category pages, FAQs and wider search strategy drives incremental traffic without locking horns with the giants on every query.
Meal delivery market outlook & trends to watch
- Market size projection: Organic visibility rose 4% YoY – modest, but in a £billion‑plus vertical that’s still thousands of extra clicks per day.
- Buying habits: Searches for “meals delivered to house” jumped 78%; convenience remains king.
- Seasonality: Christmas dinner kits spiked 767%, signalling lucrative seasonal peaks you can own with tailored landing pages and supporting content.
- Page experience audit: Google’s Helpful Content & Core Web Vitals roll‑outs mean load time and UX are now clearer ranking factors than ever. But, beyond just that, they’re huge conversion factors! Lean towards building your site experience for the humans using it, not just algorithms.
Where does your brand go next?
If you’re serious about closing the gap on the names topping today’s tables, three priorities rise to the top:
- Content clusters for opportunity terms – build a mini‑hub around low‑competition, high‑intent queries to capture incremental demand fast.
- Digital PR for authority – links, brand mentions and social buzz remain the fastest way to lift both domain rating and click-through rates.
Want a deeper cut of the tactics behind these wins? Learn more about our eCommerce SEO service – it’s the recipe we use to help brands grow sustainably without over‑relying on paid ads.
Check out the Frive case study to see exactly how a drastic rebrand and solid search strategy fueled its triple-digit growth.
Want more content like this delivered daily? Connect with Michael or myself on LinkedIn, where we share regular insights, practical tips, and industry analysis to help you stay ahead of the curve.