It sounds like they are replacing Signature Cafe items with Plated branded items among other moves. The home delivery service will be shutting down as we roll into 2020. Management of the brand is moving into the Own Brands division.
Albertsons has new plans for Plated
The reason I speculate about Signature Cafe is that as Safeway stores here have been renovated the "running chef" Signature Cafe sign is being removed from store exteriors (and deli) and in many cases replaced with the new / larger Starbucks mermaid to meet Starbucks current brand standards.
Albertsons plans for "Plated"
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
Plated was purchased as part of trying to make the company attractive for an IPO. At the time of the purchase. Wall Street was in love with the meal kit concept and there was a lot of pressure on grocers from the "analysts" that the grocers needed to get on the meal kit bandwagon or else.
I am not sure the Plated brand has any value. I don't really think Signature Cafe has any value either. They may as well bring back "Quick Fixin Ideas" and brand all this stuff with that slogan and the little clock logo - at least that one was a little catchy and describes what they are offering.
Albertsons private label program continues to be a mess and confused. They need to quit changing direction. Putting "Signature Select" onto standard/low end products was a real mistake as the old Safeway Select line had excellent quality control before. They completely blew that. Their O Organics/Open Nature lines continue to seem very weak compared to the Kroger Simple Truth line, though they claim they are having success with those lines. They need to stop pricing private label items higher than name brand items (both on sales and now with the price cut program in my market, the private labels on key categories like sugar, flour, etc. are higher than name brand on an everyday basis). You rarely see private label cost more than name brand at Kroger. Sometimes it is only 1 cent more but again the private label is there to represent a lower price point.
I am not sure the Plated brand has any value. I don't really think Signature Cafe has any value either. They may as well bring back "Quick Fixin Ideas" and brand all this stuff with that slogan and the little clock logo - at least that one was a little catchy and describes what they are offering.
Albertsons private label program continues to be a mess and confused. They need to quit changing direction. Putting "Signature Select" onto standard/low end products was a real mistake as the old Safeway Select line had excellent quality control before. They completely blew that. Their O Organics/Open Nature lines continue to seem very weak compared to the Kroger Simple Truth line, though they claim they are having success with those lines. They need to stop pricing private label items higher than name brand items (both on sales and now with the price cut program in my market, the private labels on key categories like sugar, flour, etc. are higher than name brand on an everyday basis). You rarely see private label cost more than name brand at Kroger. Sometimes it is only 1 cent more but again the private label is there to represent a lower price point.
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
I think part of the reason the home delivery service is going away because of an admittedly crowded market (Home Chef, Blue Apron, etc.) and the fact that they can't really mesh Plated into their existing operations all that well. Plated is/was based out of NYC but Albertsons doesn't even have any stores in NYC, save for a handful of underperforming ACME stores in Yonkers and Jersey City that were all acquired from A&P. In any case, they don't seem to be giving up on delivery itself anytime soon, with the company investing in small "dark stores" to service customers. I wonder if they'll use closed-down stores to market food this way.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/safeway-ow ... 1576152005
https://www.wsj.com/articles/safeway-ow ... 1576152005
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
Plated kits are back in the two largest Boise area stores as well as a 16 store test in California Safeways. (Doesn't say whether NorCal or SoCal...)
We'll see what happens.
The kits at Fred Meyer hold on here, but honestly look terrible compared to the original (pre Home Chef branded) kits.
Idaho Statesman: This Fresh Food Product Failed At Albertsons' Boise Area Locations, Now It's Back
We'll see what happens.
The kits at Fred Meyer hold on here, but honestly look terrible compared to the original (pre Home Chef branded) kits.
Idaho Statesman: This Fresh Food Product Failed At Albertsons' Boise Area Locations, Now It's Back
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
Safeway is Northern California not Southern California. VONS is in Southern California with stores in Fresno. Fresno is considered Northern California. Safeway branded stores are not present in Fresno. However, the VONS stores in Fresno are run as part of the Northern California division and are like Safeways in all but name.
The original Plated test was at 20 Northern California Safeway stores.
The original Plated test was at 20 Northern California Safeway stores.
Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
The secret to making meal kits work is to keep the preparation simple. Sprouts has a line that I've tried with a prep time of 10 minutes. That's about right. The concepts that failed were too complicated and time consuming.
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
In addition to the Plated kits when they were available at more stores being rather pricey (almost $20!), the whole meal delivery kit was a fad perpetuated by the media and analysts. In 2015, Blue Apron was estimated to be worth $2 billion, and both Kroger and Albertsons' purchase of meal kit companies (Home Cook and Plated, respectively) were considered a bargain at $200 million. Now Blue Apron is trying to sell itself for a quarter of that.
https://observer.com/2020/02/blue-apron ... on-valley/
With the competition and logistics involved, let's face it--Albertsons killing Plated's subscription service and limiting the product to the urban markets where it still makes sense (like, say, the Bay Area)-- was a really good idea.
Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
I haven't tried Albertson's version of meal kits but I've tried Kroger and Target's versions.pseudo3d wrote: ↑February 21st, 2020, 6:21 pmIn addition to the Plated kits when they were available at more stores being rather pricey (almost $20!), the whole meal delivery kit was a fad perpetuated by the media and analysts. In 2015, Blue Apron was estimated to be worth $2 billion, and both Kroger and Albertsons' purchase of meal kit companies (Home Cook and Plated, respectively) were considered a bargain at $200 million. Now Blue Apron is trying to sell itself for a quarter of that.
https://observer.com/2020/02/blue-apron ... on-valley/
With the competition and logistics involved, let's face it--Albertsons killing Plated's subscription service and limiting the product to the urban markets where it still makes sense (like, say, the Bay Area)-- was a really good idea.
Kroger's version doesn't sell well at the Ralph's I've seen them at. I've purchased a few from Ralph's (most if not all were marked down to at least 50% off) came out great. The Target versions were on sale for $10 at one point and required a lot more prep and didn't turn out great.
The Kroger version has many choices vs the Target version only having 2 that I've seen and 1 out of the 2 did not look or sound appealing.
I think meal kits in general are a fad unless they can get them under $10-$15 and taste good without a whole lot of prep.
Ralph's and Vons are now selling no cook meal kits which are basically "heat and serve". They look decent but getting frozen to thaw cooked meat doesn't sound all that appetizing. They are basically taking stuff that is already in the service deli case and chopping it up to make a kit. I suppose this would work in some stores (close to colleges for example) but nation wide, I see this as a potential failure.
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Re: Albertsons plans for "Plated"
The meal kit fad can't end fast enough for me. Tyson and Stouffer's both tried it, too. Some of the kits that were going for $24 at Walmart... were knocked out for $4 at the 99.