Woolworths has unveiled My Woolies Chef, an AI-powered food assistant integrated into the Woolworths app that uses conversational AI to help customers find meal ideas, plan cooking and shop for ingredients.
The tool will launch first in beta to a selected group of existing MyDifference loyalty programme members in September 2026, with a broader rollout planned for early 2027. Rather than a general-purpose chatbot, the retailer says the assistant is built for the Woolworths food ecosystem specifically — drawing on 20 years of Woolworths TASTE recipes, combined with product information and shopping functionality, to deliver recommendations tailored to South African households and directly connected to the Woolworths shopping experience.
Woolworths said the system is trained to interpret natural-language prompts related to meal planning, cooking preferences and household needs. A customer might ask for a quick family dinner using ingredients they already have, a vegetarian meal for two, lunchbox ideas that can be prepared in advance, or an easy weeknight meal. Recommendations are generated from Woolworths TASTE recipe content and calibrated for locally available ingredients, seasonal relevance and practical South African cooking considerations.
“Unlike a traditional search function requiring customers to browse individual products, categories or recipes, the tool is designed to understand the context behind a request,” the retailer said.
That framing places My Woolies Chef inside a broader shift among South African businesses toward AI-native customer interfaces. Naspers launched its Zapia consumer assistant and ToqanClaw agentic platform in June, and Nigerian payments company Paystack introduced its AI-agent checkout Index the same month — both positioning conversational AI as a new front door for commerce.
“Conversational AI allows customers to engage with Woolworths’ food content and digital shopping experience in a more intuitive way,” said Jose Rodrigues, Woolworths Group data and AI officer. “Instead of navigating multiple searches, they can describe what they need in everyday language and receive suggestions that are relevant to the context of their request.”
Once a customer selects a recipe, ingredients can be added to a linked basket on Woolworths’ online grocery service, Woolies DASH, and adjusted based on what’s already in the fridge or pantry — a workflow the retailer says is designed to help customers shop more efficiently and reduce waste. Over time, Rodrigues said, the tool could extend into personalized meal planning, smarter shopping lists and proactive budget recommendations.
Rodrigues framed the phased rollout as a deliberately cautious approach to a technology still under active development. Woolworths will use the beta phase, he said, to evaluate customer behaviour, refine recommendation quality and improve overall user experience ahead of the broader launch, with participating customer feedback shaping future functionality.
“Our goal is to make technology truly useful by solving real customer problems,” Rodrigues said. “My Woolies Chef is a practical example of how AI can support customers in everyday moments, while enhancing the way they plan, shop and cook.”
