French retailer Carrefour has acquired a majority stake in a meal kit delivery company Quitoque, as part of its strategy to boost its digital offerings.
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
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Founded in 2014, Quintoque is a subscription service that provides weekly recipes with local and seasonal ingredients that can be prepared at homes.
It currently has 60 employees and delivers nearly three million meals across the country.
Following this deal, the meal kit company will continue to be managed by its co-founders, who will work alongside Carrefour.
This investment is considered to be in line with Carrefour’s ambition of creating an omnichannel presence.
Carrefour customers, services and digital transformation executive director Marie Cheval said: “Carrefour constantly strives to be closer to its customers and to enrich the shopping experience by offering innovative services that simplify everyday shopping.
“At the crossroads of digital and food, Quitoque will enable us to strengthen our position in the Foodtech industry, in order to provide an omnichannel response to new consumer habits through the combination of proximity, convenience and quality.”
Bompard, who assumed the role of CEO of Carrefour last July, is trying to improve the group’s French hypermarket business and expand its online retail channels to compete with retailers such as Amazon.
Earlier this year, Bompard announced the company’s plans to invest $3.45bn in online commerce by 2022, which is six times its current investment.
Carrefour has a network of 12,300 stores in more than 30 countries and serves 105 million customers worldwide.
