WeCook meals service expands to Winnipeg

A Montreal-based meal service has added Winnipeg to its delivery route.

WeCook announced an expansion across Western Canada on Tuesday. The company sells ready-to-eat meals, from small to family portions.

Demand for instant meals has propelled WeCook’s growth across the country, WeCook’s chief executive said.

“People are busy, so they’re looking for different solutions,” Michel Gagné said.

Meals can be made in three minutes. Still, they’re healthy and use all Canadian ingredients, with the exception of some off-season vegetables, Gagné said.

WeCook dishes advertised for the week of June 14 include buffalo tofu mac n’ cheese, tuna salad and rigatoni.

Customers pay for meal pack bundles. Regular-size bundles generally average out to $12 per dish before delivery fees and taxes.

For now, meals will be transported from Montreal — where they’re produced — to Winnipeg and other Prairie cities, Gagné said. They’ll be shipped via services such as FedEx.

WeCook may create a production centre in western or central Canada if there’s demand, Gagné said. The company announced an expansion into Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver on the same day.

It delivers more than four million meals annually to Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes, according to a news release.

WeCook’s business has grown by more than 1,000 per cent since 2020, the release says.

“We all have less and less time,” said Dylan MacKay, a University of Manitoba food and human nutritional sciences professor. “There’s a business model here.”

Some Canadians don’t have the skill set or resources to make home-cooked meals, MacKay added. And as home deliveries increase, the infrastructure — including delivery trucks — opens the door to meal services, he said.

WeCook differs from businesses such as HelloFresh, whose dishes require more cooking time.

MacKay cautioned meal service users: “You can get healthy options and you can get unhealthy options.”

“You’re going to want to look for lots of fruits and vegetables in there, and then watching out for the sodium and things like the saturated fat.”

WeCook launched in 2013. It sells meals on its website, wecookmeals.ca.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com