Kroger's Home Chef Hits Massive Annual Sales Goal
Home Chef, the Kroger-owned meal delivery service with meal kits sold exclusively inside its 2,000 stores, has reached $1 billion in annual sales, according to Kroger.
The Chicago-based deliverer merged with the Cincinnati-based grocer in 2018. The service saw an increase in use during the pandemic, when families were eating more at home. During a Q&A with Progressive Grocer's sister publication Store Brands, Home Chef discussed how the service helped fill in for cooking fatigue during the pandemic.
For Kroger, the company sees Home Chef as a perfect fit for its “Fresh for Everyone” mission and the company has been exploring how to better grow the product in its 2,200 stores. The chain piloted a shopper research study over the summer looking at how the Home Chef kits performed inside brick-and-mortar locations.
“Kroger's commitment to being Fresh for Everyone is underscored by our Home Chef products, which help us bring families together in the kitchen with meal options for any occasion," said Dan De La Rosa, Kroger's group VP of fresh merchandising. "We continue to strategically expand Home Chef offerings across our family of companies. Whether it's meal kits, or heat-and-eat and ready-to-cook solutions — which are available via subscription, in-store, pickup or delivery — it's safe to say that Home Chef has mealtime covered."
Home Chef offers more than 500 products across a variety of categories, including meal kits, heat-and-eat meals, ready-to-eat products, seasonal meals and more. Based on feedback from shoppers and the shopper insights study, the brand will continue to create new products, Kroger said.
"By offering time-saving meal solutions at Kroger Family of Stores, we're able to simplify the cooking process, provide a wide variety of options, and allow customers to enjoy a delicious homemade experience. We're excited to continue scaling the brand and creating new products that are accessible to customers nationwide," said Erik Jensen, president of Home Chef.
In addition to the Home Chef subscription meal service, shoppers can buy meals exclusively sold in stores, can have meals delivered or buy online for in-store pickup. The stores also sell gift cards for Home Chef.
"Home Chef was founded on the idea to simplify mealtime with easy-to-make, delicious recipes," said Pat Vihtelic, Home Chef's founder and CEO. "Since 2013, we've grown from delivering meals with a rented truck to becoming a leading brand for Kroger. With Kroger's support, our two brands offer a collective passion to make mealtime easy and bring people together over a meal."
Serving 60 million households annually nationwide through a digital shopping experience and almost 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, Kroger is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
