Meatballs to go: IKEA food delivery now available in Prague via Wolt

Local fans of IKEA's Swedish meatballs will now be able to satisfy their cravings for Swedish style "huvudroll" with a side of mash, lingonberry jam, and cream sauce without leaving home. 

The Czech branch of the furniture giant has announced that the popular menu item is now available for home delivery to Prague, Brno, and Ostrava via Finnish food delivery platform Wolt.

"In our Central European region, this will be the first cooperation of these companies, both of which have Scandinavian roots," says Jakub Slavík, Food Commercial Leader for IKEA Czech Republic.

Launched in December, the delivery service was initially complemented by a selection of Christmas specialties, including mulled wine and Swedish gingerbread in a tin.

The current menu of roughly thirty products includes selected durable foods, biscuits, sweets, and coffee. Meatballs start at CZK 209 on Wolt.

You can order IKEA for Wolt delivery via mobile application and on the website. The cost of transport depends on your delivery address and ranges from CZK 19 to 89. The company estimates delivery time at half an hour.

Wolt is a technology startup founded in 2014 in Finland. It operates in more than 210 cities in 23 countries and launched in Prague in 2018. In November 2021, Wolt entered into an agreement with the American company DoorDash, of which it will become a part of next year (the company will keep its name).

"Traditionally the greatest interest on our platform is in the food and specialties of other cuisines, so we believe that customers will appreciate this novelty," said Jan Foret, Wolt's General Manager for the Czech Republic.

Currently, on Wolt, customers can order the classic beef and pork meatballs, chicken meatballs, veggie balls, meatless balls, as well as veggie hotdogs and crispy onion topping. Some thirty products, including the classic meatball fixings of cream sauce and lingonberry jam, are also available to take home.

This year IKEA celebrated 30 years on the Czech market. Its iconic beef and pork meatballs were launched in 1985 and were developed with the help of the store's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, who was “highly involved in creating the taste and the texture of this classic dish,” an Ikea spokesperson told TODAY last year.

The company reportedly sells a whopping one billion meatballs per year.

During the initial Covid outbreak in 2020, the company released its meatball recipe online.

In addition to a furniture pickup service, IKEA Czech Republic's food markets also launched an online click-and-pickup service in 2020 that allows customers to purchase items online and pick them up in person at the IKEA location of their choice.