Fresh and healthy meals are always at the top of shoppers’ lists, right alongside convenience. FreshRealm is knocking off the list entries as it announced the expansion of its operational facilities to bolster its fresh meals category at retail. With this expansion, the company anticipates generating more than 100 million meals per year across the company’s complete portfolio of ready-to-cook, ready-to-heat, and meal kits.
“Our new state-of-the-art facilities will provide FreshRealm with increased agility, better quality control, and rapid line expansion to ensure we can produce superior short shelf-life meals at a scale that’s relevant to the retail industry,” said Michael Lippold, Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Through extensive research and development, we’ve been able to optimize our production runs and capacity to create fresh meals for today’s most innovative and forward-thinking retailers, while keeping our costs extremely competitive.”
The facility expansion is part of the company’s continued strategy to optimize its position in the high-growth fresh meals category at retail. According to the release, the facilities are slated to be fully operational from fall 2021 through mid-2022.
As part of the expanded capabilities, FreshRealm will be able to address the anticipated $30 billion retail grocery market opportunity for fresh meals. The facilities will also enable the company to capture growing consumer demand, as more than 90 percent of families say they plan to continue or increase home dining post-pandemic, noted the release, positioning FreshRealm to capture a growing market opportunity.
Strategically located to ensure just-in-time national distribution, the facilities will be horizontally integrated, allowing the company to maximize supply chain efficiencies and continue to create a full range of meals under one roof. This proprietary model includes a best-in-class food quality and safety management system to ensure that the freshest and highest quality meals are produced.
By fall 2021, the four optimized facilities in California, Georgia, Indiana, and New Jersey will be fully operational. A fifth facility located in Texas is set to be online in the first half of 2022. The expansion will further extend the company’s reach, providing access to the top 20 metropolitan cities in the United States and reaching 85 percent of the U.S. population in just 10 hours. The strategic locations also will ensure just-in-time delivery to maximize the shelf-life of the company’s product lines—ensuring delivery within 24 hours of meal assembly.
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