Our Founder on Walmart, Sourcing, and Good Food For All

Bringing Big Flavor to the Biggest Retailer

Walmart Amber Lewis The Good Kitchen

UPDATE: THE GOOD KITCHEN IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN WALMART STORES. HOWEVER, YOU CAN FIND OUR MEALS ON WALMART.COM.

In case you missed it: You can now find The Good Kitchen meals on store shelves at one of the world’s largest retailers.

Now, you can just stop by the frozen section in – that’s right – Walmart and find a flavor-packed, nutrient-loaded meal to keep you happy and well-fed virtually anywhere you go in the US.

Convenient? Check.

Healthy? Check.

Delicious? Always.

Obviously, this is a big step for us. To explain, we stole our founder and CEO, Amber Lewis, away from the test kitchen to tell us the “why” behind the decision.

So Amber. You went from stocking your friends’ refrigerators to stocking the freezer aisle of the country’s largest retailer. How does that feel?

Excitement would be an understatement.

Over the years, we’ve been so focused on shipping directly to consumers, that I never thought our first retail relationship would be with the largest retailer in the U.S. Walmart, once seen as the "big-bad-big-box-store”, has been changing its approach to the food it carries, growing into the largest organics retailer in the states and working to level-up its sustainability guidelines for products. Value is always a priority, but by raising the bar on health, Walmart is making better options available to everyone. I like being a part of that change. It’s why we stepped aboard.

How does this change fit into your overall mission?

This partnership allows us to reach more people with our mission, and to do it in a way that’s cost-effective for our customers. The Good Kitchen changes the way people think about convenient food. “Convenient” doesn’t have to mean “unhealthy.” But it’s true that well-sourced, health-promoting options come at a price. Real food isn’t cheap. Thankfully, with Walmart’s scale, they’re able to bring the value and health components together, which is an exciting thing for us to be able to deliver.

What makes your food different from your new peers in the prepared meal category?

Clean, healthy protein is our main priority. From there we pair it with an actual vegetable. Our meals don’t have fillers, processed carbs, or hydrogenated oils. We started making our meals to support friends and family on their journey to health, and we’re still doing the exact same thing. No compromises.

TGK is all about sourcing from farm partners you know and trust. How will you maintain your sourcing standards with this massive growth?

We vet all our partners, big and small. Our strict list of sourcing criteria is the same for the farm down the street as it is for the ranch in Montana with a large herd of cattle. Thankfully, there are some farms out there that are doing things the right way on a large scale. They may not be the mom-and-pop farm down the street, but they’re scaling sustainable practices and are changing the food system at their level, and those are the partners we’re choosing to make these better options available to everyone.

What’s the first meal you’re going to buy for yourself on your next trip to Walmart?

I’m excited to try our plant-based option, the Beet Burger! The recipe is a little different from what we normally cook up to deliver, and I’m a huge fan of trying new things.

Same. Thanks, Amber!

And thanks to all of you for being part of the TGK family and helping us get healthy food into the hands of many.

TGK’s in-store menu will be limited compared to our rotating delivery options, and the portion sizes will be different. Right now, we’re serving four, 10–11oz meals in Walmart, including one plant-based option, as well as four kids meals. The kids meals contain dairy, so they aren’t Whole30 compliant, but they are kid-approved and whole mom friendly! Come September, we’ll be adding six protein-only options with two 8-12oz portions per box. Meal prices range from $4.98–$8.98.

We hope you love our new retail options and that they make your mealtimes easier! Let us know what you think of our new meals by hitting us up on Twitter or Facebook, tagging a pic on Insta, or dropping our customer service team a line.