Kroger and Home Chef are rolling out retail meal kits to 500 additional stores in a host of new cities. Additionally, homechef.com will launch a customizable meal kit feature for online orders, giving shoppers more control over which ingredients their meals will feature.
Home Chef meal kits are already available at select Kroger, Mariano’s, Pick ‘n Save and Metro Market stores in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The latest expansion will add six additional banners in 14 states by the end of February, including:
- Arizona (Fry’s and Smith’s);
- California (Ralphs);
- Colorado (King Soopers)
- Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming (Smith’s);
- Indiana, Tennessee and Texas (Kroger); and
- Oregon and Washington (Fred Meyer and QFC).
“Last October, Kroger introduced Home Chef retail meal kits, and we’re now expanding to add the easy-to-prepare recipes to hundreds of new locations, providing convenient access to the meal solution at more than 700 stores,” said Robert Clark, SVP of Merchandising at Kroger in a statement. “We look forward to the continued growth of Home Chef in 2019 through expansion and new products.”
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Supermarkets are rapidly embracing in-store meal kits: Walgreens, Costco, Harris Teeter, Tops, HyVee, Weis and Gelson’s Markets all carry them at select locations, while Walmart has expanded its own meal kit offerings to 2,000 stores.
One area where Kroger is standing out from the competition is personalization: many Home Chef meal kits ordered online will now include options such as swapping, doubling or upgrading the ingredients. These customization options are being introduced after shoppers requested them.
Jet.com and Blue Apron also are offering customized meal kits through the Knick Knacks program, which lets shoppers choose their preferred protein and produce for each recipe. The service is being initially rolled out in New York City, where it will be part of Jet’s three-hour delivery service.
