Foodbag meal boxes now available at 100 Collect&Go collection points

Monday, August 21, 2023

From today, consumers can order Foodbag meal boxes together with their online groceries and collect it all at a collection point and at a time of their choice. With this service, Collect&Go aims to expand its customer-focused product range for even greater convenience. For Smartmat NV, this means a new distribution channel, complementary to the home deliveries. With this bundled pick-up service, Collect&Go takes a new step in a customer-oriented offer on the Belgian online food market.

Recurring trend at the start of the new school year

In the run-up to the new school year, consumers revisit their routine and strive for convenience and efficiency for their weekly purchases. For many people, September is a hectic period due to the resumption of their own work, in addition to their children's school and other leisure activities they have to take into account in their planning. They are therefore more likely to resort to picking up their weekly groceries or opt for meal boxes to make their lives easier to organise. This trend is confirmed at Collect&Go. "Not only do more customers use Collect&Go, the number of orders also increases every year in this period," says Tom De Prater, Collect&Go manager. "From August to September, we see the number of online orders increase by about 15%," De Prater adds.

Combining two services in the same place: time-saving, sustainable and convenient

In February 2022, Colruyt Group announced its stake in Smartmat NV, a major Belgian player in the online food market, which mainly specialises in the composition and delivery of meal boxes under the Foodbag brand. "Foodbag's meal boxes are Belgian all the way. Together with local partners, we ensure that the meal boxes are filled with the best seasonal home-grown products every week," Stéphane Ronse, CEO at Smartmat NV confirms. Collect&Go is Colruyt Group's convenient online shopping service, where customers submit their shopping list via collectandgo.be or via the app, and employees prepare the products for them. The first synergy is a fact today. Collect&Go customers can now also collect Foodbag meal boxes together with their online groceries from 100 Collect&Go collection points at a time of their choice. With this combined service, Collect&Go responds to the increasing need for convenience for their customers. "This partnership with Collect&Go not only provides us with an additional channel to offer meal boxes to customers and respond to customer preferences. The joint delivery of our meal boxes in one and the same place is also more sustainable," Stéphane Ronse explains.

Focus on healthy purchases

The orders placed during the holiday months give way to more routine, healthy and school-oriented purchases at the end of the summer. ​ With the start of the new school year in sight, orders for (healthy) snacks, and in recent years certainly also fruit and vegetables, are rising sharply.

Foodbag also focuses on healthy and varied meals. The meal box works with the very best and seasonal ingredients of Belgian origin. The Foodbag chefs present 35 healthy and varied dishes every week. There is a choice between quick, child-friendly, original, vegetarian, vegan, Sanaproof and even 9 freshly prepared ready-to-eat dishes. The meal box can also be extended with extras for breakfast, lunch or snacks, such as a fruit basket, salads, granola, soup, bread, fresh juices, breakfast box and an apero box.

Expansion of customer-oriented offer

Collect&Go has opened collection points in the centre of Brussels earlier this year, adapted to the needs of city customers, and is also continuing to expand its home delivery service. So today, customers can choose to pick up their groceries at a collection point nearby or have them delivered to their home. By also making it possible for customers to collect Foodbag meal boxes from 100 Collect&Go pick-up points from now on, Collect&Go is taking a new step in a customer-oriented offer on the Belgian online food market.

Temporary promotion

To mark the launch of this new service, new customers will receive up to €60 off their first three meal boxes between 21 August and 31 October. This will allow consumers to discover the convenience of combining their meal box with their weekly shopping.