Grocery retail giant, Checkers, is entering the burgeoning meal kit market this week, with the launch of its Ready to Chef boxes ready for a nationwide rollout on Wednesday 23 August.
Checkers will be the first local retailer to enter the meal kit market, which has been dominated by independent companies such as UCook and Daily Dish.
Checkers enter the meal kit market The meal kit trend in South Africa has gained a lot of momentum in the past year – aimed at providing convenient and affordable ready-to-cook meals to consumers looking for a more simplistic and streamlined culinary experience.
According to Business Insider, local trend leaders, UCook, who launched operations three years ago from a garage, are now delivering close to 100 000 meals a month – with a turnover of R79.5 million expected by the end of this year.
Realising the opportunities held within the lucrative local meal kit market, Checkers has beaten retail competitors, Woolworths, to the punch.
The Ready to Chef boxes available from Checkers have been designed by gourmet chefs, and include all the necessary ingredients along with a step-by-step recipe card, and QR code which provides an in-depth how-to video.
Checkers Ready to Chef kits: The cost The meal kits offered by Checkers, which are designed to feed two people, are priced between R119.99 and R179.99 per box.
Comparatively, UCook charges R630 for a box which contains three meals for two people. This works out to R105 per-head per-meal.
Daily Dish offers a 'classic box' meal kit, which contains four meals for two people, and costs R870. This works out to R109 per-head per-meal.
Both UCook and Daily Dish prices include delivery costs.
Checkers Ready to Chef kits: The recipes While a total of 16 various meal kits are expected to roll out sometime in the near future, Checkers will be releasing four different Checkers Ready to Chef boxes this week.
Examples of various Checkers Ready to Chef meal kits and recipes include:
Butter chicken curry with rotis Cauliflower cottage pie Asian beef and sesame seed salad Mushroom, pea and mint risotto Beef stroganoff with zucchini spaghetti Sweet and sour pork with jasmine rice Biltong niçoise salad Sweet potato and lentil dahl curry with buttered naan (vegetarian)
Checkers Ready to Chef meal kits will be available in Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores this week.
©The South African
