Frozen meal kit brand Chefees – which launched direct-to-consumer operations in the UK just under a year ago – has expanded into retail.
The brand has launched three bundles – Prawn Marinara (Just Add Pasta), Salmon Teriyaki Bowl with Japanese Rice & Edamame, and Tiger Prawns in Coconut Turmeric Sauce with Smokey Cauliflower – onto Ocado.
Each bundle contains ingredients which have been flash-frozen, ready for shoppers to store in their freezers – for up to 12 months – until they are ready to cook.
Chefees’ DTC operation will continue, with co-founder Khiara Mia describing the move into retail as “an expansion rather than a pivot”.
The company was launched just before the Covid pandemic by Mia and Brandon Lim as ‘Meals in Minutes’ in Malaysia, later expanding into Singapore. Meals in Minutes already supplies international hotel groups, convenience retail chains, major grocers, and coffee chains across those markets.
“DTC is how we build the brand and learn directly from UK customers,” Mia told The Grocer, “but retail and foodservice have always been part of the plan. Ocado is the first step here.”
Chefees’ DTC channel is expected to see its highest order volumes this month, purchased by an increasingly loyal customer base. Around a third of its monthly customers are repeat buyers, and its most loyal customers have ordered from the brand more than a dozen times.
The site offers 16 bundled recipes and 25 mix-and-match components, with the Ocado range “drawn directly from our proven DTC best-sellers”, Mia said.
The major appeal of Chefees’ meal kits versus those from established players such as HelloFresh or Gousto is that, being frozen, they give shoppers the “flexibility to store meals without the pressure of immediate consumption”.
Chefees’ meals also come fully prepped, “eliminating the need for chopping, dicing or creating a mess in the kitchen” while protein arrives frozen and raw “ensuring a superior taste and texture when freshly prepared”.
Mia said the focus for the business was now “establishing Chefees as the go-to customisable frozen meal brand in the UK” as well as “growing the Ocado range, converting our current retail and foodservice conversations into listings, and continuing to scale DTC alongside”.
Co-founder Lim said breaking into the UK retail market had provided “plenty of challenges, lessons, late nights and moments where we’ve had to rethink and adapt”.
“Seeing Chefees launch on Ocado makes all of that worth it,” he added. “This is a huge milestone for our team, but it’s also just the beginning.”
No comments yet