Waitrose has ended its cobranded recipe box trial with Mindful Chef, with the partnership set to finish on 23 December, the grocer said Friday.
“It’s been a pleasure working alongside Mindful Chef on this trial, and has given us a really good insight into the recipe box market,” said Katie Papakonstantinou, director of commercial development and innovation for the John Lewis Partnership.
The pair first launched the trial in January 2022. Under the trial, Mindful Chef’s meal kits included complimentary ingredients from Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients range, alongside a cobranded recipe card. Cooks Ingredients spans herbs, spices and fresh veg.
While the partnership was always intended to be a trial, it was originally scheduled to last 12 weeks, but was extended on multiple times to enable the retailer to gather “more insights”, a spokesperson said.
Waitrose said while it has learned a lot from the trial, there were no immediate plans to launch a permanent cobranded box.
The change only affects the delivery box service and Waitrose will continue to stock Mindful Chef products, including a range of frozen ready meals.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Waitrose in the future and are glad to see good performance of our ready meals in-store,” said Henry Mills, general manager of retail for Mindful Chef.
Customers with existing subscriptions will automatically have their subscriptions continued, however they will now have to go to Mindful Chef’s website to manage or cancel their account.
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