Kroger and Home Chef Launch Pilot for Three New Retail Meal Solutions

CHICAGO, May 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Home Chef announced today a pilot to enhance its existing selection of meal kits sold in more than 900 Kroger Family of Stores across the country with three new options.

• Home Chef Oven-Ready meals feature fresh, ready-to-cook ingredients packed in an oven-safe tin to make both meal preparation and clean-up quick and effortless.
• Home Chef Heat & Eat meals are delicious, fully-cooked, ready-to-heat meals, proteins and sides that can be prepared in as little as five minutes.
• Home Chef Lunch Kits include salads, grain bowls, sandwiches and more with fully cooked proteins and can be prepared easily at home or at the office.

"Our customers' dinnertime needs are constantly evolving," said Pat Vihtelic, founder and CEO of Home Chef. "We're thrilled to meet more of their needs with high-quality meal options that consider different lifestyles and levels of preparation and cooking times."

Home Chef's new meal solutions will first be available at select locations in Illinois (Mariano's) and Ohio (Kroger Cincinnati and Kroger Columbus), starting this month. Kroger anticipates rolling out Home Chef meal solutions to additional markets in 2019.

Vihtelic added, "Our new meal solutions provide additional flexibility for families and individuals who want to get a delicious meal on the table whether they have time to cook one of our meal kits from scratch or need something that can be prepared more quickly."

Oven-Ready

Oven-Ready meal kits will feature fresh, ready-to-cook ingredients packed in an oven-safe tin, eliminating the need for dirtying a pan and cleaning up. Each kit requires less than five minutes of prep and cooks in about 30 minutes.

Meals are designed to serve two people and will be priced from $8.50 per serving. There will be six complete meals available in-store, and the menu will rotate with new recipes introduced every month. The initial recipes are:

• Garlic Butter Salmon
• Blue Cheese-Crusted Steak
• Tex-Mex Steak
• Chicken Pesto al Forno
• Arroz con Pollo
• Feta-Crusted Chicken

Heat & Eat 

Heat & Eat meals represent Home Chef's first foray into fully-cooked, ready-to-heat products. Shoppers can choose complete meals or purchase proteins and side dishes separately to mix and match. The complete meals will be priced from $6.50 per serving. 

The menu will rotate, with new meals introduced every month and will launch with three complete meal choices and a variety of mix and match options.

Complete Meals:

• Chicken with Broccoli and Seasoned Mashed Potatoes
• Pork al Pastor
• Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Mix and Match:

• Garlic Pork Sirloin Roast
• Baby Back Ribs
• Smoked Turkey Breast
• Sirloin Steak
• Broccoli and Rice
• Green Beans
• Red Potatoes
• Carrots with Rosemary

Home Chef Lunch Kits 

Home Chef Lunch Kits make it easy for customers to enjoy a fresh, quick and flavorful meal -- no cooking required. Meals include, grain bowls, salads, sandwiches and tacos with fully cooked proteins that can be prepared easily at home or at the office.

The lunch kits are priced from $6.00 per serving. The recipes rotate weekly and include:

• Guacamole Chicken Salad Sandwich
• Greek Pasta Salad
• Chipotle Steak and Guacamole Salad
• Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
• Baja Chicken Salad
• Green Chili Chicken Sandwich
• Snappy Chicken Guacamole Tacos
• Mediterranean Steak & Feta Sandwich

Photography of the new meal solutions is available upon request.

About Home Chef

Home Chef is one of the largest meal kit delivery companies in the U.S., with over 3.5 million meals delivered each month. Founded in 2013, Home Chef offers fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and easy to follow recipes delivered weekly and is designed for anyone to be able to cook and everyone to enjoy. The Chicago-based company delivers nationwide. For two years running, Home Chef has been rated #1 in customer satisfaction among leading meal kit companies, according to Market Force Information U.S. Grocery Benchmark Study. Home Chef is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). Find out more and get cooking at www.homechef.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates and inspiration.

SOURCE Home Chef