Chef’d, Quaker Oats Bet on Morning Meal Kits

The news that PepsiCo subsidiary Quaker Oats has teamed up with online meal-kit service Chef’d to offer three exclusive Quaker-branded Overnight Oats meals signals that meal kits delivered to consumers’ doors aren’t just a fad, but instead represent a decisive shift in shopping patterns that’s being taken seriously by major CPG companies.

Along with that recognition comes El Segundo, Calif.-based Chef’d’s bid to engage with potential users beyond the dinner hour – and breakfast’s currently trendy foray into the health-and-wellness space has given the company that opportunity.

“At Chef’d, we are constantly innovating and refreshing our offerings to meet the needs of today’s consumer,” said founder and CEO Kyle Ransford upon the product line launch. “We’ve seen first-hand the growing demand for fun, flavorful, nourishing breakfast options, particularly among the Millennial generation. It made perfect sense to launch this new category and partner with a trusted brand like Quaker that has been synonymous with high-quality breakfast for more than a century.”

For Quaker, meanwhile, it just makes good sense to appeal to meal-kit consumers. “With more people than ever using meal-kit delivery services, our collaboration with Chef’d allows us to introduce more people to a new way of getting creative in the kitchen with oatmeal,” noted Becky Frankiewicz, SVP and general manager of Chicago-based Quaker Foods North America.

The Overnight Oats concept itself, in which layers of oats, dairy and toppings such as fruit or nuts are placed in a mason jar and refrigerated overnight for a cool, creamy but hearty morning meal, with no additional preparation required, has its origins online, first gaining popularity on Pinterest last summer and subsequently being featured in Google’s “2016 Food Trends” report.

Consumers who order Overnight Oats through Chef’d will receive all of the pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions for making the meal, as well as a branded mason jar and Quaker Overnight Oats recipe cards. The meals cost $10 for a double serving.

As the internet continues to be a major influencer of shoppers’ food choices and purchasing habits, more and more companies will reach out to consumers online.