ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Wall Street Journal reports that Whole Foods is considering building commercial kitchens to make prepared meals for its food bars and refrigerated cases.

Whole Foods closed its own kitchens years ago in a cost-cutting move. However, with its own kitchens Whole Foods could “better control the quality of its multibillion-dollar prepared foods business.”

“Partly by using suppliers, Whole Foods has expanded its prepared-foods business in recent years, launching catering services, expanding its bakeries’ cake lineups and selling meals online. The company also runs in-store eateries such as coffee bars and wine bars,” the Journal reports.

With consumer expectations in flux after the pandemic, grocers have added more prepared meal options. (East Coast chain Giant is experimenting with an in-store restaurant.) Whole Foods plans to expand by 50 locations and plans to ramp up its in-store demo and sampling programs.

In 2017, prior to being purchased by Amazon, Whole Foods shut down three commercial kitchens. One of them received a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for potential contamination and microorganism growth. 

The Journal reports that since the start of the year, sales of prepared meals at grocery stores are more than 30% higher than 2019’s level, according to data from Circana Group LP.

In 2018, Kroger bought Home Chef, a meal kit company, for $200 million. In 2021 Home Chef surpassed $1 billion in sales. In March, Kroger announced that it was building a new facility in Baltimore to support Home Chef’s growth.