{"id":866122,"date":"2026-07-13T10:41:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866122"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:41:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:41:56","slug":"woolworths-launches-new-ai-platform-for-customers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/866122\/woolworths-launches-new-ai-platform-for-customers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths launches new AI platform for customers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths has launched My Woolies Chef, an AI-powered food assistant designed to help customers find meal ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Woolies Chef is integrated into the Woolworths app and uses conversational AI to assist customers in finding meal ideas, planning with ease, and shopping for ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tool draws on 20 years of Woolworths TASTE recipes, allowing customers to interact with it to get relevant recipe suggestions based on ingredients, preferences, household needs, or special occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, My Woolies Chef will be available to a select group of existing MyDifference loyalty program members starting in September 2026, as part of an ongoing beta testing phase. The broader rollout is planned for early 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer said that, unlike general-purpose AI tools, My Woolies Chef is specifically designed for the Woolworths food ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assistant is said to combine local recipe content, product information, and shopping functionality to deliver recommendations that are relevant to South African customers and directly connected to the Woolworths shopping experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Woolies Chef makes use of generative and conversational AI to interpret customer inquiries and provide relevant suggestions from a variety of popular Woolworths TASTE recipes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike a traditional search function requiring customers to browse individual products, categories or recipes, the tool is designed to understand the context behind a request,\u201d said the retailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system is trained to comprehend natural language prompts related to meal planning, cooking preferences, and household needs, enabling customers to interact with the platform in a more conversational manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, a customer can 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 meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendations are generated using Woolworths TASTE recipe content and are tailored to reflect locally available ingredients, seasonal relevance, and practical cooking considerations for South African households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Woolies Chef to assist with shopping needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConversational AI allows customers to engage with Woolworths\u2019 food content and digital shopping experience in a more intuitive way,\u201d said Woolworths Group Data and AI Officer, Jose Rodrigues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead 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,\u201d said Rodrigues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodrigues said that Woolworths\u2019 focus is on developing the technology responsibly, testing it through a phased rollout, and improving the experience based on customer feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoolworths will use the beta phase to evaluate customer behaviour, refine recommendation quality and improve overall user experience ahead of a broader rollout,” said Rodrigues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the feedback from participating customers will play an important role in shaping future functionality and enhancements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Woolies Chef, according to the retailer, will streamline the process from recipe selection to shopping for the necessary ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once customers have selected a recipe, they can add the ingredients to a linked basket on Woolies DASH. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can adjust the list based on what they already have in their fridge or pantry, \u201chelping customers shop more efficiently and make better use of what they already have at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to make technology truly useful by solving real customer problems. 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,\u201d said Rodrigues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodrigues said that My Woolies Chef reflects Woolworths\u2019 commitment to using AI in practical and useful ways that address real customer needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that over time, this tool could enhance personalised meal planning, create smarter shopping lists, and offer budget and proactive recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woolworths has launched an AI-powered food assistant designed to help customers find meal ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":864435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2076588195823636632","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[25810,949],"class_list":["post-866122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-my-woolies-chef","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866122"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866131,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866122\/revisions\/866131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}