A decade ago, meal kits were all the rage with the likes of Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Plated going public or getting acquired for hundreds of millions. Fast forward to today, consumers are valuing more convenient, yet nutritious options which has led to the aforementioned players acquiring or expanding into ready-to-eat meals. There has been a post-pandemic growth of players ranging from mom-and-pops to bootstrapped startups like Feast & Fettle to VC/PE-backed ones like CookUnity, Thistle, and Shef. After launching a restaurant-powered meal kit marketplace 4.5 years ago, Locale is the latest a16z-backed startup to pivot into the space with high protein, longevity-focused meals that are free of seed oils or microplastics.  HNGRY recently beta tasted the service and sat down for a podcast interview with Co-Founder & CEO Chris Clark to discuss its recent traction in California and what the future holds for the broader prepared foods category.