04/25/2023

Grocers Prep for Mother’s Day With Meals to Go

The Fresh Market, Wegmans and others tout brunch and other bundles for gatherings

Senior Editor

The Fresh Market is offering ready-to-heat and ready-to-cook meals for at-home Mother's Day gatherings.

It’s the mother of spring holidays, ringing up around $31.7 billion in sales, according to the National Retail Federation. As grocers gear up for Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 14, they are touting meal solutions that can be served easily and without the need for reservations or long wait times at a restaurant.

The Fresh Market, for its part, is helping shoppers create a memorable brunch at home, with a $34.99 brunch meal for four that includes a choice of one of three quiches, market-style bacon mixed berries and blueberry muffins, along with a floral bouquet and reusable store shopping bag. In addition to that heat-and-eat option for a family, the grocery is selling a ready-to-cook meal for two featuring chateaubriand filet mignon or prime rib with side dishes, fresh flowers and the reusable shopping tote. The Fresh Market is taking orders online and in-store until May 11.

Likewise, Iowa-based Hy-Vee has curated meals for Mom, spanning brunch for two, four or six; ham or turkey dinners for two or four; and options for larger groups of eight, including a prime rib party pack and applewood pit ham meal, among other choices. The grocer is also playing host for the special occasion, offering a special Mother’s Day brunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 14 at its in-store breakfast cafés.

Meal kit companies are also sharing their ideas in advance of this springtime holiday. Blue Apron recently introduced its first-ever brunch box for Mother’s Day, with ingredients and instructions for putting together a brunch for six. Customers can serve up avocado toast with feta cheese, sliced radishes and chopped chives, a cheese and asparagus quiche with marinated artichokes, a blueberry and lemon curd French toast bake and candied bacon.

Beyond prepared foods to go, retailers are promoting other items and ideas for Mother’s Day gatherings. Wegmans Food Markets, for instance, shares recipes linked to buildable shopping lists on its site, along with pro tips on setting a Mother’s Day table. Dorothy Lane Market is marketing gifts that can be shipped from its base in Ohio to moms, grandmothers or other mother figures, such as a “Grand Gourmand” six-month subscription, four-month herbal tea club subscription, a bagel and lox box, “Best Mom Ever” gift box and a “Breakfast in Bed” gift pack with ready-to-eat items like quiche, waffles and tarts. The Fresh Market is creating custom gift baskets that can be filled with items like wines, chocolates, cookies, candies, gift cards and flowers.

Based in Greensboro, N.C., The Fresh Market, operating approximately 160 stores in 22 states, is No. 78 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. West Des Moines, Iowa-based, employee-owned Hy-Vee operates more than 285 retail stores across eight Midwestern states and is No. 30 on The PG 100. Family-owned Wegmans, which operates more than 100 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and Massachusetts, is No. 34.