Woolworths is expanding its digital retail ecosystem by introducing My Woolies Chef, an artificial intelligence-based assistant designed to simplify the meal planning process and enhance the shopping experience for customers.
This tool, integrated directly into the Woolworths app, helps users find answers to the common daily question: 'What should I cook for dinner tonight?'. It creates a more cohesive journey from getting culinary ideas to making purchases.
My Woolies Chef utilizes AI capabilities and draws upon the Woolworths TASTE recipe archive, which spans over two decades. Through simple queries, users can receive personalized recipe suggestions based on available ingredients, personal preferences, household needs, or planned events.
After selecting a recipe, customers can automatically transfer the necessary groceries to their shopping cart on the Woolies DASH platform. This tool combines recipe inspiration, meal planning, and digital purchasing functions into one unified, connected experience.
The system is designed to reduce barriers in the customer journey, allowing users to transition more easily from deciding what to cook to buying the required products. For Woolworths, this launch reflects a broader focus on practical digital innovations that increase customer utility, deepen engagement, and support a more individualized approach to shopping.
Furthermore, the tool allows users to request dish ideas based on ingredients they already have, specific dietary requirements, family needs, or special occasions. Ingredients can also be adjusted according to the contents of the refrigerator or pantry, promoting more efficient shopping and better use of home supplies.
Unlike general AI tools, My Woolies Chef is specifically created for the context of South African cuisine, offering locally relevant recipes, seasonal produce, and direct integration with the Woolworths shopping ecosystem. This enables a seamless transition from idea to purchase within one connected process.
Woolworths Food CEO, Chan Pillay, noted that My Woolies Chef is a clear example of using innovation to solve real customer problems. He emphasized that combining AI convenience with the Woolworths TASTE recipe archive and the digital shopping experience makes meal planning simpler, faster, and more aligned with customers' usual shopping habits.
Pillay added that the company's goal is not merely to implement technology for technology's sake, but to use innovation to ease daily decisions, helping customers plan, shop, and cook with greater confidence. He particularly highlighted that combining proven culinary expertise, recipe inspiration, and digital convenience in an intuitive and genuinely useful format is key.
Initially, access will be limited to a small group of MyDifference loyalty program participants. This will allow Woolworths to test, study, and improve the functionality before expanding access on a wider scale.
