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Woolworths expands digital retail strategy with AI Assistant, My Woolies Chef

Retail 13 July 2026

Woolworths is strengthening its digital retail ecosystem with My Woolies Chef, an AI-powered food assistant designed to simplify meal planning and enhance the customer shopping experience.

Built into the Woolworths app, the tool helps customers answer one of the most common daily questions, “What’s for dinner tonight?”, while creating a more connected journey from meal inspiration to shopping.

Powered by AI and drawing from the Woolworths TASTE recipe archive that spans over 20 years, My Woolies Chef allows customers to use simple prompts to receive personalised recipe suggestions based on available ingredients, preferences, household needs or occasions. Once customers have chosen a recipe, they can move from inspiration to an automatically linked shopping basket on Woolies DASH.

The tool will be available to a small cohort of existing MyDifference loyalty programme members from September 2026 as part of an ongoing beta testing phase, with the intention of rolling it out more broadly in early 2027.

A more connected customer journey

My Woolies Chef brings together recipe inspiration, meal planning and digital shopping functionality in one connected experience. It is designed to reduce friction in the customer journey, helping users move more easily from deciding what to cook to shopping for what they need. For Woolworths, the launch reflects a broader focus on practical digital innovation that improves customer utility, deepens engagement and supports more personalised shopping experiences.

The tool allows customers to use simple prompts to ask for meal ideas based on ingredients they already have, specific dietary preferences, family needs or occasions. Ingredients can also be adjusted according to what is already in the fridge or pantry, helping customers shop more efficiently and make better use of what they have at home.

Purposeful innovation for real customer needs

Unlike generic AI tools, My Woolies Chef is designed specifically for the South African food context, offering locally relevant recipes, seasonal ingredients and direct integration with the Woolworths shopping ecosystem. This allows customers to move from inspiration to purchase in a single connected experience.

Chan Pillay, CEO of Food at Woolworths, says, “My Woolies Chef is a practical example of how we are using innovation to solve real customer needs. By combining AI-enabled convenience with the Woolworths TASTE recipe archive and our digital shopping experience, we are making meal planning simpler, quicker and more connected to the way customers already shop.”

He explains, “For us, this is not technology for technology’s sake. It is about using innovation to make everyday decisions easier and helping customers plan, shop and cook with greater confidence. What makes this particularly exciting is that we're bringing together trusted food expertise, recipe inspiration and digital convenience in a way that feels intuitive and genuinely useful for customers. It's about using innovation to solve everyday problems."

Building digital engagement through MyDifference

As part of its phased launch, My Woolies Chef will initially be available to a small cohort of MyDifference loyalty members, giving Woolworths the opportunity to test, learn and improve the experience before expanding access more broadly.

The launch gives customers another reason to engage with Woolworths’ MyDifference programme, while supporting Woolworths’ broader strategy of building more useful, personalised and convenient digital experiences.

My Woolies Chef also builds on one of Woolworths' most distinctive strengths - extensive food expertise and reliable recipe content. Drawing from more than 20 years of Woolworths TASTE recipes, the tool combines trusted culinary inspiration with digital convenience, creating a uniquely Woolworths experience that helps customers move seamlessly from meal inspiration to shopping.

Download the Woolworths app to unlock smarter meal planning and shop with ease.

Supplied by: Woolworths.

Guzzle Media