Meal solutions provider Home Chef, part of The Kroger Co., has expanded its Southeast footprint to a new production center that brings more capacity and additional efficiencies.
Chicago-based Home Chef said Tuesday that it has leased a 181,000 square-foot location at 2120 Skyview Dr. in Douglasville, Ga., about 20 miles west of Atlanta. The new facility marks Home Chef’s first to incorporate a full-service kitchen for cooking and batch production of ingredients to be used in the brand’s meals, the company noted. Going forward, the 6,000 square-foot kitchen will handle the cooking of vegetables, starches and grains, as well as in-house sauce production.
In addition, the Douglasville production center marks Home Chef’s first single-tenant facility and is equipped with state-of-the-art features such as an upgraded food-safe material design, cleaning processes and facility flow, the meals company reported.
“Our Atlanta facility is a foundational part of delivering high-quality meals to our customers in the South and beyond,” Erik Jensen, CEO of Home Chef, said in a statement. “This brand new center will make our production and distribution even more efficient so we can continue to bring fans easy, delicious recipes.”
Home Chef said it offers simple recipes in a variety of formats, ranging from “minimal mess” Oven-Ready and Fast & Fresh meal kits to the Culinary Collection for more adventurous home cooks and add-ons like protein packs, salads, desserts and more.
With operations in the South since 2017, Home Chef added that the Douglasville facility will serve both its e-commerce meal delivery service and retail products businesses. The new location also will bring 700 new jobs, and the company said it’s working with the Elevate Douglas Economic Partnership on workforce initiatives, including job fairs for salaried and hourly roles.
Home Chef was acquired by Kroger in mid-2018 and has since rolled out its products to over 2,200 Kroger Co. stores nationwide and entered new categories. In quarterly earnings calls, Kroger executives have cited strong sales for Home Chef since the pandemic, and last fall the brand reached sales of $1 billion. Jensen became Home Chef CEO this past February, succeeding founder Pat Vihtelic, who is slated to serve on the company’s advisory board to the end of 2022.