Sometimes you just want a Swedish meatball in the comfort of your own home – without having to wind your way through a twisty-turny labyrinth past a well-lit landscape of inexpensive couches, bookshelves and kitchenware. It is perhaps with that in mind that Ikea has reportedly begun testing home food delivery.

It’s happening in France and Ikea’s food-service wing, which says it is the sixth largest restaurant chain in the world, may soon move to other European markets, including perhaps Spain, the Spanish publication El Confidencial reports.

And then? Will American fans of inexpensive dill-speckled Swedish Gravlax, with a mustardy dressing, a wilted salad and a lemon wedge on the side, also one day have the benefits of enjoying it without ever leaving the house? Who knows? But that possibility seems at least a bit more likely now. (Digits crossed!)

"We have launched a 'delivery' pilot in the center of Paris," Gerry Dufresne, one of the heads of Ikea Food Services, confirmed to El Confidencial, noting that food is already a big part of the Ikea experience.

Ikea’s Paris Downtown location, which opened in May, is piloting the new food-delivery program, with a menu that features a selection of salads as well as Swedish products including salmon, beet and cabbage dishes. The location’s food-delivery service is piggy-backing on its ecofriendly home-delivery program for small packages (via courier bicycles) and furniture (via electric vehicles).

Ikea’s in-store restaurants serve 680 million people a year around the world and its food division grew 8 percent globally in 2018, Dufresne told El Confidencial. Annually, the cafeterias sell more than 100 million cups of coffee – and countless meatballs with Lingonberry jam.

“Food is a very important part of the shopping experience," Dufresne said.

As if he had to tell us that.

Photo: GettyImages

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