Carrefour buys majority stake in French meal delivery company

PARIS (Reuters) - French retailer Carrefour (CARR.PA) said on Thursday it was buying a majority stake in Quitoque, a French company that delivers meal kits to homes, as part of plans to beef up its digital offering.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Alexandre Bompard, who took over as Carrefour's CEO in July, is trying to overhaul the group's French hypermarket business as well as expand online retail in the face of competition from Amazon (AMZN.O).

Bompard announced in January plans to invest 2.8 billion euros ($3.45 billion) in digital commerce by 2022, six times its current investment, as Carrefour plays catch-up in online food retail.

Founded in 2014, Quitoque employs 60 people and delivers nearly three million meals throughout France.

Through a subscription system, Quitoque offers each week recipes to be prepared at home with local, organic and seasonal ingredients, the statement said.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sarah White)