Kroger Revolutionizes Meal Prep With GE Appliances

Consumers cut it close when it comes to mealtime. At one point before the pandemic, 85% of respondents in one Acosta and Techonomic survey reported that they didn’t know what they would have for dinner until right before the dinner hour. 

The perennial question of “What’s for dinner?” resonates even more as people continue their early 2020s penchant for eating meals at home. In its recent research, FMI – The Food Industry Association confirmed that consumers are cooking at home more often and creating hybrid meals with elements that are made from scratch and other items that are premade.

Now, GE Appliances is partnering with The Kroger Co. to help consumers cut it close in a different kind of way – by finding shoppable recipes in their own cooking units. Through this collaboration, consumers with select ovens and ranges from GE Appliances can discover a rotating selection of recipes from Kroger right on their touchscreen. 

GE Appliances is leveraging hardware and software technologies, WiFi capabilities and cloud-based infrastructure to deliver such experiences right in the heart of the home. Consumers with GE Profile, CAFÉ, and Monogram wall ovens and slide-in ranges – estimated to be about 150,000 households in the United States – can browse Kroger content on their appliance touchscreens. If they like a particular recipe, they can click on it to view the list of ingredient and instructions, and click again to add items to their cart via the Kroger app.

Shawn Stover, VP of SmartHome and energy solutions at the Louisville, Ky.-based GE Appliances, a Haier company, says that their experts have continued to refine WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, along with precision cooking options, to make at-home meal preparation easier and better. “This play with Kroger is the next step – how can we engage consumers outside of our walls in adjacent industries, like grocery, that our customers are interacting with and create experiences for them?” Stover told Progressive Grocer in a recent interview. “We have 7-in. LCD panels in our ovens that can display content and we can display Kroger recipes or other partner recipes as inspiration for consumers.”

As Stover points out, consumers are looking for ideas as they continue to cook at home. “Sometimes you get into a rut, making the same thing over and over. This allows them to see recipe right there and if they choose, add items to their cart,” he noted. 

In addition to answering the dinner question and enabling consumers to buy right from a recipe for grocery pickup or delivery from a nearby Kroger store, the technology offers some sustainability benefits as well. “It’s inspiration and it’s food waste – ‘What do I do with these things I have in my fridge?'” Stover says, adding, “Food waste is a huge contributor to carbon footprints.”

People with these appliances can plug ingredients they have on hand into a recipe generator and get ideas for main course, side dishes, breakfast or other meals and snacks. To complete the meal, they can shop for other needed ingredients by connecting with Kroger.

Stover emphasizes that Kroger has been a strong early partner, along with CPG companies like King Arthur Flour, which has also provided recipes for range and wall oven touchscreens. “There’s a proximity that comes into play – Kroger is in Cincinnati and we are in Louisville. They are also a very tech-forward company and their interconnection with ecosystem partners is right up there,” he remarks.