Kroger Reimagines the Cooking Experience
The Kroger Co. is launching a new innovation designed to help consumers save money and reduce food waste.
Chefbot is a first-of-its-kind AI Twitter tool that offers personalized recipes based on the ingredients a customer already has on hand at home.
Developed in partnership with integrated creative and media agency 360i, and technology partners Coffee Labs and Clarifai, Kroger's Chefbot AI analyzes photographs to recognize nearly 2,000 ingredients, unlocking 20,000 Kroger recipes for users to cook.
How Chefbot Works
- Snap: Users snap a photo of three ingredients from their refrigerator or pantry
- Tweet: Users tweet their photo to @KrogerChefbot. Through artificial intelligence, Chefbot identifies ingredients and then scans thousands of unique recipes on Kroger.com
- Cook: Within seconds, Chefbot responds to the user's original tweet to deliver a list of personalized recipe recommendations based on the selected ingredients
"Last year, we launched Kroger's Fresh for Everyone brand transformation campaign to underscore our commitment and belief that everyone should have access to fresh, affordable and delicious food," said Mandy Rassi, Kroger's vice president of marketing. "Chefbot is one of the ways we're delivering on that brand promise by making it even easier for our customers to achieve their meal aspirations, especially as the majority of shoppers are eating meals prepared at home multiple times a day during the pandemic. We're thrilled to partner with industry thought leaders like 360i, Coffee Labs and Clarifai to bring Chefbot to our customers, and we look forward to this innovative technology inspiring fresh and delicious meals in kitchens across the country."
The Chefbot launch is consistent with Kroger's commitments and ivestments toward innovation and sustainability.
The battle against food waste continues during the pandemic, and fresh data from The Kroger Co. shows that many consumers have a high awareness of that issue.
A recent national survey of Kroger shoppers conducted by 84.51˚, the grocer's data analytics subsidiary, revealed that food waste prevention is top of mind for many families as they continue to enjoy more meals together at home.
According to Kroger survey data:
- The majority of shoppers are eating more meals together as a family
- Nearly three out of four are eating meals prepared at home multiple times a day, with more than half of those meals requiring a moderate to high amount of preparation
- 35% strongly agree that they're more conscious of food waste since the onset of COVID-19
- Nearly half cite food expiration as the biggest cause of food waste during the pandemic
Kroger's goal is to achieve zero food waste in its own retail grocery operations by 2025. In the past two years, the company has decreased total food waste generated in stores by 13% and improved its food waste diversion rate by almost 18%.
Cincinnati-based Kroger employs nearly half a million associates who serve 9 million-plus customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The company is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
