Business
At Your Doorstep
Delivery meal services make cooking fun and easy
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They also provide portion control, with
many entrees averaging 600 to 700
calories per serving.
Meal kit companies – the “big three”
are Blue Apron, Plated and HelloFresh –
offer a variety of no-commitment plans
and free delivery. The price per serving
(per person) averages $9 to $12, which
is typically less than a restaurant meal,
but more than a dish prepared from a
supermarket visit. Customers must have
basic staples that include olive and/
or vegetable oil, salt, pepper and
sometimes eggs.
“Plated appeals to thoughtful eaters
who crave discovery, creativity and connection in the kitchen, but lead busy
lives and are looking for ways to enhance
their dinner experience in an enjoyable,
memorable way,” Jacqueline Wasilczyk,
a senior manager for Plated, says.
“We’re building a product for
those who are conscientious
about food quality. This
informs everything from
our sourcing decisions,
packaging and recipes.”
Meal kit services
also offer flexibility:
Customers select which
weekly delivery day they
prefer; can cancel at any
time; and can easily adjust the schedule
if they want to skip a week.
Marisa Musachio of Jersey City says
she uses meal kits from FreshDirect,
which “makes my life easier because
they allow me to quickly prepare a
healthy, home-cooked meal after a long
work day. By using FreshDirect, I’ve
added hours onto my week that otherwise would have been spent shopping at
a local grocery store. Now I get to use
this time with my family or for me,
which is worth its weight in gold.”
One common complaint about meal
kits, however, is the massive amount
of packaging material used for each
delivery. Many ingredients are sealed in
plastic or metalized plastic; the packaged
ingredients are then inserted into foam
refrigerator packs and kept cool with
frozen gel pouches, all tucked into a
cardboard box. Customers are urged
to recycle, but not all towns
accept all the packaging
materials.
Still, the meal kit industry
is rapidly growing, with
some companies emerging
to serve niche markets
like vegetarians, vegans
and gluten-free
customers. ◆
COURTESY OF PLATED
ood food often
presents a dilemma to
millennials, who grew
up in the era of food
television, celebrity
chefs, farmers markets, and a multitude of ethnic cuisines.
When it comes to dinner, area residents
often eat out or order in, but that hits the
wallet – and the waistband. Who wants
to come home from work and stare
blankly into the refrigerator, hungrily
facing the age-old dilemma: What can
I cook for dinner?
In response, the trend of delivered
meal kits (or even prepared meals) has
boomed among this newest working
generation, who spend more on food
outside the home than their parents and
grandparents ever did.
Do you crave convenience, but
demand good taste, with fresh meat and
produce? Don’t be afraid of trying something new – like following a step-by-step
recipe with a bonus: You learn cooking
skills!
Meal kits may not appeal to people
who enjoy cooking and experimenting in
the kitchen, but they do offer a chance
to try new foods or ingredients without
committing to a large jar of an exotic
sauce or a container of an unusual spice.
WRITTEN BY JOYCE VENEZIA SUSS
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