Campbell Soup Bets on Chef’d

The company invested $10 million in the meal-kit startup.

May 26, 2017

CAMDEN, N.J. – Campbell Soup is the latest food maker to invest in meal-kit startups, this time pouring a $10 million investment into Chef’d, Fortune reports. Kroger recently rolled out its own meal kits, while earlier this month, Unilever announced its investment in Sun Basket.

“We believe that digital and e-commerce is going to transform [the food] industry,” said Mark Alexander, president of Campbell Americas Simple Meals and Beverages. Food makers predict their industry will be the next one to experience transformation as consumers purchase food via online grocery delivery and meal-kit companies.

The Chef’d/Campbell partnership will benefit each company: Campbell provides well-known brands and grocery ties, while Chef’d brings a direct-to-consumer model and consumer data. Chef’d allows customers to order at will, until other meal-kits which require subscriptions.

“The customer thinks of them as an iconic can of soup but we think they are a forward-looking company,” said Kyle Ransford, CEO and founder of Chef’d. “The efforts they are making are thoughtful and interesting from our standpoint.”

Millennials and Gen Z have been driving the online ordering of groceries and meal-kit purchases, which makes food executives view supermarket traffic as likely in a downward spiral. But that spending shift does bring with it a new opportunity to reach consumers in their homes through meal kits and online grocery delivery.

“E-commerce will transform the food industry as it's already done with entertainment and apparel,” said Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison earlier this year. “Consumer buying behaviors have changed rapidly and as you can see 41% of American consumers visit cooking websites to find recipes and 64% of people who try online shopping find it more convenient.”

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement