Whether it's a green Thai chicken curry or a Greek leg of lamb, consumers are now unboxing their way to their supper, as convenient meal kits become the latest fad in grocery retailing. Global retailers have expanded from selling basic food products to offering time-strapped consumers convenient solutions for gourmet home-cooked meals. Meal kits have become a global phenomenon for people who want pre-portioned and sometimes partly prepared ingredients along with a recipe to cook a meal at home. This new market category was traditionally offered on subscription and could only be ordered online. Now it has made its way into the physical world of retail. In SA, Shoprite's Checkers brand is emerging as an early adopter of this alternative way of buying food. In a 2017 report, research firm Nielsen describes the development as a "small category with big potential" after in-store meal kits raked in $154.6m (about R2.18bn) in the US, up 26.5% on the previous year. According to the research...
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