Home Chef expands Heat & Eat lineup in Kroger Co. stores

Meal-kit service Home Chef this week added Heat & Eat Soup and Sicilian-Style Pizza to its roster of offerings at about 2,000 Kroger Co. supermarkets nationwide.

Chicago-based Home Chef, a Kroger subsidiary, said the Heat & Eat Soups come in seven flavors in 15 oz. and 24 oz. containers and start at a retail price of $4.99. Offered in a 10-inch size, the Home Chef Heat & Eat Pizzas are available in three varieties and start at $5.99.

“With so many more meals being eaten at home these days, cooking is becoming overwhelming for home cooks,” Home Chef founder and CEO Pat Vihtelic said in a statement. “We are always listening to customer feedback, and these new meal options bring the convenience and simplicity that a lot of overburdened families and individuals need when it comes time to answer the daily question of ‘what’s for dinner?’”

Made from fresh ingredients, the Heat & Eat Soup flavors include chicken noodle, broccoli cheddar, creamy tomato, loaded potato, Thai-style chicken coconut curry, chicken wild rice and beef chili with beans. The soups serve one to three people and can be warmed up in minutes, according to Home Chef.

With a fresh, doughy crust and premium toppings like sausage, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese, the Heat & Eat Sicilian-Style Pizza options include four cheese pepperoni, pork sausage alfredo and margherita. To prepare the pizzas, which serve one to two people, customers preheat their oven and bake for 15 minutes.

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“Our new product lines are the latest examples of Home Chef’s ability to satisfy customer needs with convenient, creative and delicious meal solutions,” Vihtelic added. “The pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders continue to impact the way people prep, shop for and cook their meals. With up to 19 weekly rotating recipes on homechef.com and meal kits available in 2,000 Kroger stores, Home Chef helps keep your dinner time routine fresh.”

Describing itself as the largest U.S. meal kit company serving customers online and in-stores, Home Chef delivers 6 million meals monthly via homechef.com and through more 2,000 Kroger grocery stores. Cincinnati-based Kroger acquired Home Chef in mid-2018 and began rolling out Home Chef meal kits to its supermarkets in October 2018.

In reporting fiscal 2020 second-quarter sales, Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen cited Home Chef as one of the catalysts in its online grocery channels amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“Kroger’s digital ecosystem continues to expand, and customers are increasingly engaging with us,” McMullen told analysts in a September conference call. “For example, Home Chef is growing incredibly fast, no doubt accelerated by the food-at-home trend that we believe is a structural change.”

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