Gelson’s Markets is rolling out meal kits under the True Chef and Chef’d labels.
True Food Innovations, which distributes the True Chef and Chef’d meal kits, said Encino, Calif.-based Gelson’s will carry all eight recipes from both brands, including truffle butter sirloin steak, chicken marsala and saffron tomato chicken.
"We are very excited for this partnership,” Paul Kneeland, senior produce executive at Gelson’s, said in a statement. “We pride ourselves in providing our customers top-quality product and look forward to a successful relationship with True Chef and Chef'd meal kits.”
All of the True Chef and Chef’d meals require 15 minutes of preparation and cook time and are free from artificial colors, preservatives and artificial flavors.
"We are extremely excited to relaunch the Chef'd and True Chef brands in Gelson's Markets,” said Alan True, founder and CEO of Newport Beach, Calif.-based True Food Innovations. “It is a testament to the quality of product and our ability to meet the highest standards of Gelson's and its customer base.”
True Food, a fresh food technology, CPG and manufacturing company, acquired Chef’d last summer about a week after the Los Angeles-based meal kit provider ceased operations and laid off employees due to financial difficulties. In relaunching the brand, True Food said it would focus on retail distribution rather than online ordering and delivery via subscription.
Gelson’s, which has 27 specialty grocery stores in Southern California, had originally launched Chef’d meal kits in August 2017 and at the time was the retail launching pad for the then-startup.
"Our strategy is to provide retailers with a multi-brand offering with the ability to provide meal kit options based on price, demographics and geography,” said Robert Jones, president of True Food Innovations. “Gelson's agreed with us and has built a destination with both the True Chef and Chef'd brands for its consumers.”
