After being valued at roughly $160 million last year, Los Angeles-based meal kit startup Chef’d abruptly ceased operations July 16.
The company, which started as a non-subscription online model, launched a plan for rapid expansion into more than 1,000 retail locations by the end of 2018. The most recent stores to add Chef’d included Duane Reed and Walgreens drug stores in Manhattan.
The Wall Street Journal reported the company was valued around $160 million, and had secured investments from companies like Campbell Soup Co., and Smithfield Foods Inc.
Chef’d reportedly sent email notices to employees and suppliers notifying them of the company’s closure, telling suppliers the company had “unexpected circumstances with the funding and business,” that led it to cease all operations “until our investors and lenders decide the final fate of the company.”
Chef’d was one of the first national meal kit companies to go in-store, piloting at Los Angeles-based Gelson’s Markets in August 2017.
On May 8, the company announced a partnership with Smithfield Foods that expanded its reach to a dozen retailers in 27 states, including Costco, Harris Teeter, Tops and Weis. At the time, the company called itself the “market leader” and planned a “rapid expansion in the coming months.”