When you’re hungry for dinner and can’t decide between delivery, take-out, or cooking at home, the grocery chain Albertsons hopes you’ll choose a Plated meal kit from one of their stores that combines elements of all three.
The do-it-yourself food prep packages are available at hundreds of Albertsons stores across the country, Plated CEO and co-founder Josh Hix said. They give busy people who don’t want to commit to a meal subscription service a one-off option.
“We can’t profitably ship just one meal,” Hix said Friday in an interview on Cheddar. “They want to buy at the last minute, we can’t profitably ship at the last minute. So it’s really about serving lots and lots of different types of customers.”
Each meal kit costs around $16, said Hix. Consumers can order online and pick their meal kit up, or go to the store and buy them off the shelf.
Albertsons, which owns Safeway and ACME stores, acquired Plated last summer for $200 million. The purchase was designed to give the brick-and-mortar retailer an entry into the growing meal kit market.
The grocery chain Krogers announced recently that it will begin carrying meal kits in its stores, as will Walmart, which plans to have them in more than 2,000 stores by the end of the year. Blue Apron and Weight Watchers plan to sell kits at retailers too.
Amazon, which acquired Whole Foods last year, filed a patent for a new meal kit service to be sold in stores even though it already sells kits online.
“I think the retail presence is critical,” Hix said, noting that online doesn’t work for all customers.
“You end up with a lot of people that may try it and love the product but don’t love the purchasing model.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/make-room-for-plated).
While the U.S. may slowly be on the path to lowering inflation (and therefore interest rates), Europe has thoroughly trounced America, putting it on the path to lower rates by this summer.
April's release of the monthly Housing Starts and Building Permits reports by the Census Bureau provides crucial insights into the construction activity in the housing market. These reports are an economic indicator, shedding light on the current state of the housing market and its broader economic impact.
Caitlin Clark is heading to the Indiana Fever, the number one draft pick and the highest-scoring college basketball player of all time. And while she may not be getting millions from the WNBA, there's a few ways she'll net compensation for her generational talents.
Author of 'Clean Meat,' Paul Shapiro joins Cheddar to discuss how the cellular agricultural revolution helps lower rates of foodborne illness and greatly improves environmental sustainability. Plus, how his company The Better Meat Co. is bringing healthier food options to the table.
Recent headlines might make it sound like World War III is imminent, but when it comes to your finances, it's not the time to panic. The market is coming off its longest winning streak since 2011.
You may have noticed fewer new venture capital-backed startups (like Airbnb or Uber) lately. The market slowed to a crawl after 2021, but things are expected to take off again in 2025.
Corporate earnings season is underway, that time when companies share their billions in sales or double-digit profits. But the data shows even companies are struggling with high inflation and interest rates.
Boeing continues their terrifying trend of having their planes fall apart mid-flight, inflation — checks notes — is still up and the future of AI looks terrifying. Cheery!
Food waste – uneaten scraps or leftovers sent to landfills – is responsible for 10% of global emissions. Mill, a new product from the co-founder of Nest, thinks technology can play a role in eliminating it.
By the time the 2024 election is over, be prepared to see some form of a recession – but this shouldn’t be as bad as what we experienced in 2020 or 2008.
