IKEA Is Celebrating Its Loyalty Program With A ‘Store In A Box’ Gift Package That Features A Meatball Scented Candle

IKEA celebrates the tenth anniversary of its loyalty program, IKEA Family, with a ‘Store In A Box’ gift package sweepstake. The gift box’s limited-edition collection includes a candle that smells like the company’s HUVUDROLL meatballs.

The sweepstake will start on August 6, 2021, and end on August 22, 2021.

“For many people, one of the first things that comes to mind when they think of IKEA is their delicious and affordable Swedish meatballs,” Sho Matsuzaki, creative director at Ogilvy, which spearheaded the creative project with IKEA, told The Post. “There’s no other furniture brand out there with a food offering that has such a strong following. So for the IKEA Family 10-year anniversary, we thought it would be fitting to create something unexpected that our IKEA Family members and meatball super-fans would love. And yes, it does very much smell like IKEA meatballs.”

IKEA is also offering members special deals and products while the sweepstake runs.

Ingvar Kamprad, the creator of IKEA, opened the first in-store restaurant in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1956. Kamprad incorporated food into the furniture store because he believed that it was tough to do business with someone on an empty stomach.

“We know that the IKEA meatballs are loved by many people and for years the meatballs have been the most popular dish in our restaurants,” Michael La Cour, managing director at IKEA Food Services, said.

The store issued a recall on frozen meatballs in 2013 after food inspectors in the Czech Republic discovered that the meatballs were made with horse meat.

“As soon as we received information from the Czech authorities, we stopped sales of that particular production batch,”  Ylva Magnusson, a spokesperson for IKEA told The Wall Street Journal.

“Our own checks have shown no traces of horse meat. Now we must of course look into this further,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.