Retail Watchers

https://www.grocerydive.com/news/albert ... ts/551607/

This isn't too surprising. They have few to no of these at all in my area (remote NorCal division Stores). These are simply a very slow seller in most stores.

Kroger continues to "push it" up here at Smiths with whatever their meal kit brand is (it's been 2-3 different things) offering a large assortment of meal kits at some (not all) of the Smiths here. The case is always full, often with markdown stickers on a significant portion of what is in the case.

These meal kits were a really good example of the grocery industry listening to Wall Street on a bad idea, and as a result, doing something that ended up costing them some shrink money and some loss of focus.

storewanderer wrote: ↑March 29th, 2019, 11:50 pm https://www.grocerydive.com/news/albert ... ts/551607/

This isn't too surprising. They have few to no of these at all in my area (remote NorCal division Stores). These are simply a very slow seller in most stores.

Kroger continues to "push it" up here at Smiths with whatever their meal kit brand is (it's been 2-3 different things) offering a large assortment of meal kits at some (not all) of the Smiths here. The case is always full, often with markdown stickers on a significant portion of what is in the case.

These meal kits were a really good example of the grocery industry listening to Wall Street on a bad idea, and as a result, doing something that ended up costing them some shrink money and some loss of focus.

One factor which seems to be hurting Plated's retail sales seems to be their lack of availability across store locations. For example, in Houston, only 2-3 Randalls stores carry the product line, and they are even somewhat rare at the DFW Tom Thumbs (really only being carried at large, high volume locations). At that point, it becomes an out of sight, out of mind issue for shoppers. By comparison, in the Texas market, both Kroger and HEB are rolling out their meal kits much more widely as long as the store locations have the demographics to support it, and just based on visual observation, seem to be pulling more traffic and shopper interest as a result.

One of the first meal kits to be available at retail was Chef'd which went out of business late last year. They are supposedly back and now only doing retail with a launch at Gelson's, although I have gone in twice recently to look for them and could not find them and the store manager had no idea what I was talking about.

The difference now is that they will have a 55 day shelf life because of the packaging technology and all meals can be put together in 15 minutes or less:

https://thespoon.tech/chefd-meal-kits-g ... s-markets/

https://progressivegrocer.com/gelsons-r ... -meal-kits

Remember how meal kits / assemble & cook at home delivery was the "next big thing" ...

Kroger is using TV to promote Home Chef, and ran a sting at the end that's shows their brands, noting "and available in select stores..."

I've looked at these at Fred Meyer but I feel they're even less appealing after being brought under the brand name.

I haven't seen Plated at Safeway in quite some time. The packaging on the Plated items looked somewhat refined but was not really appetizing.

Kroger is heavily using the Home Chef name on various ready to heat and hot deli foods. The packaging to me does not look good. It looks boring and sterile. Fresh Foods Market (using the Harris Teeter logo- not the Kroger hack up of that logo) would look much more fun and appetizing.

Kroger has been slapping the Home Chef name on just about everything, from virtually all the hot foods in the deli, the chilled deli soups, side dishes, etc.

Recently they added a handful of single-serving heat & serve dinners: lasagna, chicken breast with veggies, etc. Most appeared to be priced at $7.99. Will be interesting to see how long they last...

storewanderer wrote: ↑March 29th, 2019, 11:50 pm https://www.grocerydive.com/news/albert ... ts/551607/

This isn't too surprising. They have few to no of these at all in my area (remote NorCal division Stores). These are simply a very slow seller in most stores.

Kroger continues to "push it" up here at Smiths with whatever their meal kit brand is (it's been 2-3 different things) offering a large assortment of meal kits at some (not all) of the Smiths here. The case is always full, often with markdown stickers on a significant portion of what is in the case.

These meal kits were a really good example of the grocery industry listening to Wall Street on a bad idea, and as a result, doing something that ended up costing them some shrink money and some loss of focus.

In some stores the meal kits are right next to the produce department, so you can see how it's offer cheaper to buy the parts individually instead of in a "kit".

cw06 wrote: ↑February 15th, 2021, 10:01 am In some stores the meal kits are right next to the produce department, so you can see how it's offer cheaper to buy the parts individually instead of in a "kit".

Makes sense that they are more - just the convenience and perhaps in some cases getting a smaller amount of a particular item needed than you could separately (meaning leftover stuff that gets wasted).

Bagels wrote: ↑February 15th, 2021, 1:11 am Kroger has been slapping the Home Chef name on just about everything, from virtually all the hot foods in the deli, the chilled deli soups, side dishes, etc.

Recently they added a handful of single-serving heat & serve dinners: lasagna, chicken breast with veggies, etc. Most appeared to be priced at $7.99. Will be interesting to see how long they last...

Have you tried any of those heat and serve meals yet? I wonder if they are any good. Seems like Albertsons late 90's Quick Fixin Ideas program all over again.

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 15th, 2021, 10:43 pmHave you tried any of those heat and serve meals yet? I wonder if they are any good. Seems like Albertsons late 90's Quick Fixin Ideas program all over again.

I've purchased the chicken breast and lasagna entrees. Both were pretty good, but not much better than a quality frozen entrée. Recently, Walmart began selling similar entrees, but with smaller portions (and at $5, vs. $8 at Ralph's). It's definitely not innovative -- Meijer has been selling similar entrees for at least two decades, but a la carte in the deli case (you can purchase a chicken breast entrée and choose your sides).

Ideas are continuously recycled. We're about overdue for another round of "meal deals," where Kroger (et al) will offer a really, really bad large deli pizza for $10 that comes with "free" Kroger-branded chips, Kroger-branded soda, Kroger-branded salad and Kroger-braded cookies...