Meal kit

A meal kit refers to a subscription service that sends customers pre-portioned and sometimes partially prepared food ingredients and recipes to prepare homecooked meals.[1] Services that send pre-cooked meals are called meal delivery services. This subscription model is an example of personalization in the food and beverage industry that is becoming more popular and wide-spread.[2]

History

The business model was originated in Sweden, and conflicting sources credit either Kicki Theander's launch of Middagsfrid (roughly translated as “dinnertime bliss”) in 2007,[3] or Linas Matkasse, launched in 2008 by siblings Niklas Aronsson and Lina Gebäck.[4] Middagsfrid quickly spread to several other Northern European countries, and inspired a range of competitors.[3] Three meal kit companies entered the U.S.[5] market roughly contemporaneously in 2012: Blue Apron, HelloFresh (which was already operating in Europe), and Plated.[4]

Business

According to Inc Magazine, as of March 2017 there were over 150 meal kit companies in the United States.[6] As of July 2017, according to Time Magazine, the meal kit business was estimated to be USD$2.2 billion globally, which represents under 1% of the estimated $1.3 trillion food market.[7] The industry is expected to grown tremendously and estimates show that it could make up 1.3% of food and beverage sales by 2020. Supermarkets have tried to combat meal kits popularity by making their own kits sold at store's locations. Blue Apron was the service most used by customers surveyed by Morning Consult in 2017, followed by HelloFresh and Plated.[8] Although companies and the category have enjoyed rapid growth, they face a substantial challenge in retaining subscribers: many customers only use the services once, lured by offers of free meals, and few people continue past the 5-8 week mark: just 6% of customers surveyed by Morning Consult were still subscribed to most meal kit services after 3 months (although Blue Apron did much better than average at 12% 3-month retention).[8] Subscribers are mostly young, overwhelmingly urban, and skew male and upper-income.[8]

List of meal kit services

Environmental impact

Meal kit refrigerated gel pack used during shipping

The industry has come under criticism for the difficulty recycling the freezer gel packs included with the kits to keep meats and dairy products refrigerated during shipping. The active ingredient in many gel packs is sodium polyacrylate, a non-toxic powder that can stay cold when saturated with water and frozen.[36]

References

  1. ↑ "The Best Meal-Kit Delivery Services of 2017". PCMAG. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  2. ↑ "Capitalizing on convenience: The rise of meal-kit services and what it means for grocers". Food Dive. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  3. 1 2 Segran, Elizabeth (6 August 2015). "The $5 Billion Battle For The American Dinner Plate". Fast Company. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 Konrad, Alex. "The Swedish Meal Kit Startup That Inspired Blue Apron, Plated And HelloFresh Speaks Out". Forbes magazine (14 October 2015). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Meal Kit History- infographic".
  6. 1 2 "Martha Stewart New Meal Kit Partnership With Amazon Gives Users More Than Just Convenience". inc.com. 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  7. ↑ "Why Meal Kits Haven't Delivered a Cooking Revolution—Yet". TIME.com. 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  8. 1 2 3 Leonhardt, Megan (20 July 2017). "These 2 Charts Show Just How Popular Meal-Kit Services Are". Money magazine. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "We tried Amazon and Blue Apron's meal kits side by side". CNBC. 21 July 2017.
  10. ↑ https://www.fivepointfour.com.au/
  11. ↑ https://freshmeals2u.com.au/
  12. ↑ "Hungry for some 'fuud'? Delivery service brings farmers market 'meal-kits' to B.C. doorsteps". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  13. ↑ Global, Belly (19 July 2018). "A Meal Kit Company With a Global Focus". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  14. ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/global-belly
  15. ↑ https://food-x.com/startup-companies/global-belly/
  16. ↑ "Meal-Kit Bubble? Organic Startup Green Chef Unveils New Vegan Menu As Competition Heats Up". Forbes. 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  17. ↑ https://goodnessmebox.com/
  18. ↑ Insley, Jill (2012-11-30). "Hello Fresh and Gousto – which is better?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  19. ↑ https://gymfoodaustralia.com.au/
  20. ↑ "Worth it? We test out Kroger's new meal kits". 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  21. ↑ "HelloFresh Raises $126 Million In Series E From Rocket Internet". techcrunch. 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  22. ↑ "Ayesha Curry Wants to Be the Martha Stewart for Millennials".
  23. ↑ https://www.liteneasy.com.au/
  24. ↑ "The rise of DIY meal kits". telegraph.co.uk. 2017-07-23. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  25. ↑ https://www.musclemealsdirect.com.au/
  26. ↑ "My Food Bag launches new product inspired by 'street eats'". NZ Herald. 25 July 2018.
  27. ↑ "Atlanta's PeachDish Aims To Outflank Plated, Blue Apron With Smarter Logistics And Southern Hospitality". techcrunch.com. 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  28. ↑ "How Shark Tank's Plated Broke $100 Million in Revenue in Three Years". inc.com. 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  29. ↑ "Progress Prep - Meal Prep Delivery Service". Meal Prep Service based in Las Vegas. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  30. ↑ "I Tried Tom Brady's New Meal Delivery Service—And It's Not Just for Bros". vogue.com. 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  31. ↑ "The Ultimate Guide To The Best Meal Kit Delivery Services". forbes.com. 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  32. ↑ "As meal kit industry grows, Terra's Kitchen eyes expansion".
  33. ↑ https://thr1ve.me/
  34. ↑ ""Un-forkin believable" Youfoodz ad banned by watchdog over concerns boy sounds like he's swearing". March 5, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Walmart now makes and sells meal kits in stores". The Verge. March 5, 2018.
  36. ↑ "The Truth About Meal-Kit Freezer Packs". motherjones.com. 2017-06-04. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
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