Founded in 2013 by Patrick Vihtelic, the Home Chef business was acquired by Kroger in 2018 and in October 2021 announced that it surpassed $1bn in annual sales with its full line of simple, time-saving recipes in a variety of formats including oven-ready and fast & fresh meal kits as well as add-on items such as protein packs, salads, and desserts to customize a consumer’s at-home dining experience.
The facility will support both its e-commerce meal delivery service and retail business where it is sold at more than 2,200 stores, said Home Chef.
The new facility features a 6,000-square-foot space to accommodate a full service kitchen for cooking and batch production of ingredients to be used in the company’s meals and will handle the cooking of vegetables, starches, and grains, as well as in-house sauce production. The new production center is also equipped with state-of-the-art features including upgraded food-safe material design and cleaning processes.
The new facility will also create nearly 700 jobs.
“Our Atlanta facility is a foundational part of delivering high-quality meals to our customers in the south and beyond,” said Erik Jensen, Home Chef’s CEO. “This brand new center will make our production and distribution even more efficient, so we can continue to bring fans easy, delicious recipes.”
