Kroger is planning to expand its take-and-bake seafood meal offerings to numerous additional stores this year.
The company’s “Easy for You!” oven-ready seafood meals program allows shoppers to choose from several different types of fish, seasonings, and garnishes, and then take their fish home in an oven-ready cooking bag. Fresh fish options include catfish, cod, crab, salmon, shrimp, and tilapia.
After initially launching the program in 2016, Easy for You! has rolled out to more than 350 stores, including Kroger, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, and other Kroger banners, Supermarket News reported.
In addition to fresh seafood options, Easy for You! Was broadened to include frozen seafood earlier this year. More recently, meat and poultry entrees as well as a variety of side dishes were added.
Frozen seafood meals (such as shrimp scampi) are priced at USD 7.99 (EUR 6.94) per pound, Supermarket News reported.
The concept will also be launched in several other cities in which Kroger operates.
Executives with Kroger did not return emails from SeafoodSource.
In addition to Easy for You!, Kroger offers seafood options in its “Prep + Pared” meal kits line, which is available in more than 500 Kroger stores. Plus, the retailer recently acquired HomeChef, the largest private meal kit company in the United States.
“This deal [with Home Chef] will strengthen Kroger's ability to capture a larger share of a segment of grocery that currently has a lot of consumer interest. It complements Kroger's current meal-kit offering, Prep + Pared, which it introduced in 2017 and allows it to leverage the brand equity and culinary skills of Home Chef,” David Bishop, partner of grocery consultancy Bricks Meets Clicks, told SeafoodSource at the time.
In addition, Kroger bought a five percent stake in United Kingdom-based Ocado, which will help the 2,000-store retailer compete against Amazon, Walmart, and other major players in the grocery delivery space.
