Loblaw partners with GTA restaurants on meal-kit delivery

A number of Canadian restaurants turned to selling groceries to meet shifting consumer habits during the start of the pandemic. Now, Canada's largest grocer is partnering with popular Toronto restaurants to deliver meal kits as customers continue to search for at-home meal options.

Loblaw announced Wednesday that it had expanded its PC Chef meal kit offering to include 15 recipes from top restaurants across the city. For instance, customers can prepare Burger's Priest's cheeseburgers, La Carnita's carne asada tacos,  pork miso ramen from Kinton Ramen and golden satay curry from Fresh. Each kit is prepared by the participating restaurant and is complete with pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions.

"We are in a unique position to support local restaurants, especially during a time when many have been challenged with in-restaurant dining," said Nick Kuriya, vice-president, Loblaw Brands Meal Solutions, in a press release. "We had the infrastructure and knowhow, all we needed were some fantastic local restaurant partners. We couldn't be happier with our new selection of meals and look forward to delivering a new, in-home restaurant experience to our customers."

Loblaw entered the Canadian meal-kit market with PC Chef meal kits in 2019. The company had planned to one day introduce a delivery service just for the meal kits, but that was “sped up to meet the unique needs of customers during the pandemic,” Loblaw spokesperson Aly Vitunski, director, external communication, told Canadian Grocer back in May.

The new meal kits are available for delivery Wednesday through Sunday for customers living in Toronto, Etobicoke, NorthYork, Scarborough, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Caledon, Burlington, Oakville, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham.