Supervalu Debuts Quick & Easy Meals

Supervalu Inc. has launched Quick & Easy Meals, a line of meal solutions, at its retail banners and the 3,000-plus independent grocery stores served by the company’s wholesale business. The line offers three levels of food preparation: fully prepared, ready-to-eat, grab-and-go items; completely assembled heat-and-eat meals; and, in common with many grocers hoping to steal share from online delivery services, fresh meal kits including ingredients that have already been chopped, sliced and measured.

“While we have long provided meal solutions for busy shoppers, our new Quick & Easy Meals program will now make it even easier for our customers to find a variety of fresh, fast, delicious and reasonably priced meals to meet their needs on any particular day,” noted Anne Dament, Supervalu’s newly appointed EVP for retail, marketing and private brands. “Today’s consumers are seeking changes, impacting where they spend their food dollars. Originally, a grocery store only needed to have the components to make the meal. Now we need to have the full solution available to time-starved customers at our stores or delivered to their homes, whether it’s ready to eat, heat and eat, or prepare at home.”

“Independent retailers look to Supervalu for insights on trends and answers to the changing consumer landscape,” added Mike Stigers, EVP of wholesale at the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company. “As the more than 3,000 stores we serve across the country look to evolve and continue to position themselves to best serve their customers, solutions like our Quick & Easy meal program provides a differentiator in their stores.”

The three levels of options are as follows:

• Ready to Enjoy: More than 500 items, including hot-and-ready items in the store deli, in addition to a wide variety of freshly made sandwiches, salads, and pre-cut fruits and vegetables. The selection also includes fresh fruit bowls, yogurt cups, veggie cups to go, macaroni and cheese, and chicken wings.
• Heat & Eat: A broad selection of convenient entrées. Among the more than 40 options in the deli area are chicken Alfredo, burrito bowls and Swedish meatballs.
• Prepare at Home: Includes chef-inspired meal kits along with pre-seasoned, pre-portioned meats with or without vegetables. The kits can be prepared at home in under 15 minutes and include bourbon peppercorn steak tips and teriyaki chicken stir-fry, as well as chicken Marsala and Thai coconut chicken, both of which are gluten-free; further options include ready-to-bake meatloaf, marinated chicken breast, salmon with asparagus, and microwavable chicken fajita mix.

With hundreds of food options to choose from, consumers can have a different combination of meals every day of the month while saving time and energy when it comes to meal planning, shopping and preparation.

Supervalu serves customers across the United States through a network of 3,337 stores comprising 3,120 wholesale primary stores operated by customers serviced by the company’s food distribution business and 217 traditional retail grocery stores operated under five retail banners across six geographic regions. The company has about 31,000 employees.