Grocer Metro Inc. has announced its purchase of majority interest in Montreal-based MissFresh Inc., which specializes in the delivery of ready-to-cook meals. This adds Metro to an already growing online sales segment in simple-prep foods.
Following the acquisition, MissFresh’s three cofounders will keep 30 per cent of the capital and maintain active roles in the company’s management.
“We are pleased to partner with the three founders of MissFresh, dynamic entrepreneurs who have developed a promising concept that is already popular with consumers,” says François Thibault, executive vice-president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Metro. “As an alternative solution to healthy eating that is easy to prepare and delivered to your door, MissFresh offers products that will be complementary to what we have in store, which will help us to better meet the needs of consumers.”
This move follows Amazon’s entrance into the ready-to-cook meals department with self-branded kits. With this area of online shopping growing steadily, independent grocers and retailers should consider tapping into this new market.
Founded in 2015 by Marie-Eve Prevost, Bernard Prevost, and Ritter Huang, MissFresh meets a growing demand from families and professionals who have little time for shopping and preparing meals, but still wish to eat healthy foods.
