HelloFresh SE will sell its meal kits at Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV-owned Giant Food Stores LLC and Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC locations in the U.S. starting June 6, The Wall Street Journal reported June 3, citing an interview with Dominik Richter, CEO of the German meal kit provider.
Richter told the newspaper that while online subscriptions will still make up a large part of its sales, selling their products in physical stores will help the company attract new customers. "It's for customers that don't have the ability to pre-plan as much," he reportedly said, adding that they are in talks with other retailers to sell their kits in their stores.
According to the report, HelloFresh executives decided to sell their products at Giant Food and Stop & Shop stores because of their concentration on the east coast, where customers reportedly seek out more convenient meals.
The move follows a similar partnership between New York-based rival Blue Apron Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. last month. In April, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. Inc. was reported to be planning on rolling out meal kits by Plated, the startup it acquired last year, to "hundreds" of its stores.
The development also comes weeks after Kroger Co. announced that it will buy Illinois-based meal kit provider Home Chef. Big-box retailer Walmart Inc. also said in March that it will start offering meal kits at more than 2,000 stores this year, following its foray into the meal-kit business in December 2017.
