US food consultancy True Food Innovations has bought the assets of Chef’d, days after the meal kit firm suspended operations after failing to secure more funding.
True Family Enterprises-owned True Food Innovations has acquired all the company’s assets, including plant, property, equipment, brand and intangible assets for an undisclosed amount, and plans to consolidate them into the existing businesses of True Food.
Chef’d products will continue to be sold in US grocery stores, but the firm’s e-commerce offering will be suspended.
The meal kit company was valued at around $160 million in its most recent funding round last year. Its more than 350 employees – most of which worked at its warehouses in Brooklyn, New York, and California – were told that the company was shutting down earlier this week.
Just a month ago Chef’d revealed it would start selling its meal kits in 30 Duane Reade and Walgreens stores in the New York area.
True Food Innovations president Robert Jones, who previously served as senior vice president of business development at Chef’d, said: “We are looking forward to working with brands and former customers as we restructure and operate the Chef’d assets.
“We have already developed and are in market with long shelf-life retail meal kits under the brand of True Chef, so we seized the opportunity to acquire the assets and brand of Chef’d as the transaction will be accretive to our business from day one.
“We believe the retail channel will continue to grow and we will concentrate our efforts on that portion of the Chef’d business.”
True Food Innovations provides manufacturing services, turnkey product development and high pressure processing packaging solutions.
By Jules Scully
Source: FoodBev
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