Kroger wants to get Home Chef into more homes.
The grocery chain announced Wednesday that it's expanding its rollout of Chicago-based Home Chef, bringing its meal kits to 500 additional Kroger stores across the country. By the end of February Home Chef will be in Kroger (and Kroger family stores) in more than a dozen new states including California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee and Oregon.
The expansion now puts Home Chef in more than 700 of Kroger's stores across the U.S.
Kroger bought Home Chef in 2018 for $200 million. But the deal could eventually be worth up to $700 million if Home Chef hits certain growth milestones over the next five years, Kroger said.
Founded in 2013, Home Chef has built one of the largest meal kit delivery services in the country. It raised raised $57 million in venture capital before getting acquired last year, and did $250 million in revenue in 2018. Home Chef says it delivers over 3 million meals each month.
Prior to Wednesday's announcement, Home Chef was on Kroger family store shelves in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Home Chef also announced Wednesday that it has launched a customizable meal kit feature for online orders, bringing more flexibility and variety to customers who shop on its website.
"Home Chef is proud to continue our evolution toward becoming more than a meal kit delivery brand," Pat Vihtelic, Home Chef's founder and CEO, said in a statement. "With continued innovation and personalization, we are providing customers with more ways to enjoy fresh, delicious meals that align with their individual tastes."
Home Chef's Kroger expansion comes as competing meal kit company, Blue Apron, has struggled. Blue Apron's stock was trading Wednesday at around $1.40 a share, a steep drop from when it debuted at $10 a share in 2017. The company laid off 4 percent of its workforce---about 100 jobs---last November, and laid off 6 percent the year prior.
Kroger said Wednesday that it expects Home Chef to continue to grow in 2019 through expansion and new products.
