News Roundup: Home Chef Plans New Facility; Poppy Raises $3M

Home Chef Plans New Production and Distribution Facility

Meal kit business Home Chef announced this week its fourth production and distribution facility will open in Baltimore in the coming months and is expected to bring 500 jobs to the area by 2024. The new 170,000 sq. ft. facility will be Home Chef’s first East Coast site and will primarily fulfill online orders.

In 2018, the meal delivery service was acquired by grocery retailer Kroger for over $200 million and subsequently expanded its direct-to-consumer business into brick-and-mortar retail. Since the acquisition, the company has extended into heat-and-eat meal options and added a range of add-on products to its e-commerce business including protein packs, beverages, salads and desserts.

The news comes on the heels of rapid expansion for the meal kit brand, which also opened a new 181,000 sq. ft. production and distribution facility in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area in July. Parent company Kroger has continued to invest in the business, executives said on a recent earnings call, seeing it as a way to cater to shoppers’ needs both in-store and online.

“Our new facility will put us even closer to our customers, allowing us to deliver fresher ingredients and a wider range of meal options to East Coast homes,” said Erik Jensen, Home Chef’s CEO, in a press release. “Maryland is a great place for our first home in this part of the country, and we look forward to making a positive impact in the Baltimore community.”

According to the release, the Maryland Department of Commerce actively worked with Home Chef to assist with project costs and location services in an effort to diversify the state’s business community.

The news also comes as other popular meal kit brands have faced challenges to maintain growth as the pandemic’s impact wanes. Publicly traded meal delivery company Blue Apron has reported declining revenue as it continues to grapple with funding issues. Earlier this year it received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that it would be delisted if its share price did not increase in the next six months.

At the end of last year Nestle announced it would shutter meal delivery service Freshly’s direct-to-consumer operations and begin “winding down” the brand in early 2023. Founded in 2012, Nestle had acquired the Freshly business for $950 billion in 2020 and in mid-2022 the business expanded with a B2B arm that stocked meals in vending machine-like fridges for hospitals, cafeterias and senior living facilities.

Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn Closes $3M Funding Round

Craft popcorn brand Poppy announced this week it raised $3 million in a funding round led by JACS Capital, the family office of former GE CEO and investor Jeff Immelt. Following the transaction, Immelt will join the company’s advisory board and Chris Renno, a strategy and business development employee at tech company Abridge, will join its board of directors.

The Asheville, N.C.-based company is led by a team of two CEOs, the brand’s founder Ginger Frank and seasoned executive Susan Aplin, who joined the company this week. The new capital will be used to expand Poppy’s manufacturing space with more than $2 million bookmarked for new equipment and technology, with the goal of increasing production capacity six times over.

“Poppy is at a strategic inflection point, and we are thrilled to partner with JACS Capital on the company’s future.” said Aplin, in a press release. “Jeff and Chris bring significant experience and we are excited to have the opportunity to work with them.”

Founded in 2014, the brand has grown rapidly in recent years with consumer demand increasing 150% since 2018, according to a press release. The company currently produces dozens of savory, sweet and premium popcorns ranging from Pimento Cheese to Cinnamon Bourbon Pecan flavors.

“Part of our mission at JACS is to invest in local entrepreneurs. We are big fans of this dynamic Co-CEO team with Ginger and Susan,” Immelt said, in a press release. “Poppy has been redefining what is possible with quality and flavor in the gourmet popcorn sector for years. We believe that our experience in operations and selling can help Poppy reach its full potential.”

Afresh Expands Into New Grocery Categories

Fresh food technology company Afresh has expanded its capabilities into meat, seafood, deli and foodservice categories, bringing its AI-powered store ordering, operations and inventory management platform to new categories and sales channels. Currently, the company has over 3,000 retail l partnerships across 40 states including Albertsons, Heinen’s, Save Mart, Bashas and Cub Foods.

“After proving our ability to add value in thousands of stores in produce, we have been overwhelmed by demand to launch the Afresh platform in other fresh departments,” said Matt Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Afresh, in a press release. “We are taking the same approach of bringing easy-to-use, AI-powered tools to these historically underserved, strategically critical departments.”

According to the release, the Afresh platform has the ability to “plan for uncertainty” and provides insight in a digital workflow format, developed from analysis of well-functioning fresh departments. Afresh claims the new capability has a 94% adherence rate and will result in faster inventory turns and lower shrink rates.

Renegade Foods Debuts Shelf-stable Vegan Deli Meat

California-based Renegade Foods unveiled its shelf-stable vegan salami products in three varieties today. The animal-free meat comes in Sweet Toscana, Spicy Chorizo and Smoky Soppressata and is made with wheat, red miso, tomato paste and a range of spices and herbs. The product was previously available in a refrigerated format but the company has since discontinued that item in favor of the shelf-stable version in order to decrease its environmental impact.

“Shelf-stable is a game changer for our business, our customers and the category,” said Iona Campbell, CEO and co-founder of Renegade Foods, in a press release. “[It has] reduced our packaging by over 80% and removed the need for cold storage. For retailers, they can now easily cross merchandise our salamis throughout the store to improve velocity, from the cheese counter to the wine section and of course the current deli case.”

Renegade products are available through gift basket company Harry & David as well as online and at a range of independent retailers, restaurants and wineries.