Home Chef

Home Chef is a Chicago, Illinois-based meal kit and food delivery company that delivers pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to subscribers weekly in the United States.[2][3][4] According to the company it delivers three million meals monthly to its subscribers.[5]

Home Chef
Subsidiary
IndustryMeal kits
FoundedJune 2013
FounderPatrick Vihtelic
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois
Area served
United States
Key people
Patrick Vihtelic, CEO
ServicesMeal delivery service
Number of employees
Over 800[1]
ParentKroger
Websitewww.homechef.com

On May 24, 2018, Kroger announced they were acquiring Home Chef for $200 million with an additional $500 million in incentives if certain targets are met by Home Chef.[6][7][8] The acquisition closed during the end of June 2018 and the meal kits began to be stocked at Kroger stores in the middle of 2018.[9][10]

Overview

Home Chef is a meal delivery service that provides a box of pre-portioned fresh ingredients directly to consumers that are ready to cook. With distribution centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Lithonia, Georgia, Home Chef delivers meals to all of the lower 48 states.[11] Each meal kit comes with recyclable packaging, pre-portioned ingredients, and meal instructions. The rotating menu includes up to 15 meals[12] for dinner, and the company also provides a weekly breakfast, lunch, smoothie and fruit basket option.[13] In 2017, Home Chef had the highest satisfaction rating and the lowest customer attrition of companies in the meal kit market.[14]

History

Founder and CEO, Patrick Vihtelic started Home Chef in June 2013.[15] In September 2016, the company raised $40 million in funding from consumer-focused private equity fund L Catterton.[16] In late 2017, Home Chef starting selling their products via Walmart, which is in addition to its website.[17]

The meal kits were available in select Krogers and Walgreens at the end of 2018.[18]

In early 2019, Home Chef added a customization feature, where the user can swap the protein, double the amount of protein or upgrade to a higher grade of protein by using the website.[19]

In August 2019, Home Chef launched Fresh and Easy, another meal kit provider and food delivery service.[20] Fresh and Easy delivers fresh meals prepared by chefs before being packaged in heatable bags, then customers heat before serving.[21] The website was previously used by the unrelated supermarket of the same name.

References
  1. Ori, Ryan (February 2, 2017). "Home Chef moving HQ to Wrigley Building". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  2. Mangis, Carol (1970-01-01). "Home Chef Meal Delivery Service Review & Rating". PC Magazine. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  3. "Your lunch, disrupted". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  4. Rajn, Brandt Ranj (2017-11-08). "How Home Chef, one of the newest meal subscription boxes, stacks up against its competition". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  5. Schug, Debra (2 March 2018). "Home Chef opens new Chicagoland-area facility". Food Engineering.
  6. Neil Stern (May 23, 2018). Kroger Buys Home Chef as the Meal Kit Industry Rapidly Consolidates Forbes. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  7. Marotti, Ally. "Kroger deal to acquire Chicago meal kit company Home Chef could be worth as much as $700M". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  8. Haddon, Heather (2018-05-23). "Kroger Buys Meal-Kit Company Home Chef in Latest Online Acquisition". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  9. Watson, Elaine (1 July 2018). "Home Chef gears up for Kroger meal kit launch: 'We're been solving the dinner next week problem, but not the dinner tonight problem'". Food Navigator. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  10. "Kroger acquiring Home Chef as it expands into meal delivery space". CNBC. 2018-06-01. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  11. Ha, Anthony. "Meal kit service Home Chef raises $40M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  12. "The Home Chef Menu For the Week of June 04". Home Chef. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  13. Sims, Bob. "Home Chef secures growth capital". Meat and Poultry. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  14. "New Market Force Information Study Finds Publix And Wegmans Are America's Favorite Grocery Stores".
  15. "Meal kit company Home Chef reviews options including sale: sources". Reuters. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017 – via Reuters.
  16. Linder, Matt. "Home Chef raises $40 million, its biggest funding round yet". DigitalCommerce360.
  17. "Walmart and Amazon Compete for the $5 Billion Meal-Kit Market That's Slipping Away From Blue Apron". The Motley Fool. 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  18. "Kroger Rolls Out Meal Kits, Curated Assortment at Walgreens". 5 December 2018.
  19. "Kroger, Home Chef bringing meal kits to more people". 7 February 2019.
  20. "Healthy Dinner Shortcut: No Ingredient Chopping, No Cleanup, Cheaper Than Groceries". Hungry Girl. 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  21. Hirsch, Scott (2019-08-26). "Fresh and Easy". Top10.com. Retrieved 2019-11-28.

Further reading
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