EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Meal kit company Chef’d has stopped production and closed its doors as of July 16, according to news sources. As of July 17, customers could no longer place meal kit orders on the website and the company’s 350 workers — most of whom work in the company’s warehouses in Brooklyn, New York, and California — were told late July 16 that the company was shutting down. The company has been around since 2015.
“Due to some unexpected circumstances with the funding and business, I regret to inform that Chef’d has ceased all operations until our investors and lenders decide the final fate of the company,” the company’s chief technology officer wrote in an email to a supplier July 17 according to The Wall Street Journal. “Consequently, please cease all work associated with Chef’d.”
According to Business Insider, founder and CEO Kyle Ransford said the following in an email to employees on July 16, “We have had some unexpected circumstances with the funding for the business.”
The news of the company’s closure may come as a surprise considering company news over the past year. In mid-June, Chef’d, along with its partner Smithfield Foods, announced that 30 select Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the metropolitan New York area will have Chef’d meal kits on their shelves.
“Since its launch as the only non-subscription meal kit company, Chef’d has been dedicated to providing customers with more quality meal kit offerings in more locations,” said Kyle Ransford, CEO of Chef’d at the time of the announcement. “Through our expansion into New York area Walgreens stores in partnership with Smithfield Foods, we are able to extend meal kits to new audiences and occasions.”
In August 2017, Smithfield Foods became a major investor in the meal kit company. The pork processor’s $25 million investment came with a seat on the Chef’d board of directors.