Plated, HelloFresh, and BlueApron are Food Training Wheels for Millennials

Success does leave clues and one age old clue is ‘follow the money’ according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. One of the key elements of a fast evolving retail sector is just how much money is pouring into it.  Without doubt the grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to lead all retail food sectors in that category.  Simply put, the Grocerant Niche is Hot. 

Remember last year when the New York Times previously speculated square would by meal delivery service Caviar? Well that the deal could have been worth as much as $100 million.  Why that much money and what’s to come?

Today, BlueApron, Plated, and HelloFresh are competing with chain restaurants and chain grocery stores for Millennials dollars and they are winning at top of mind when it comes to home cooked food, a good meal, and value.  While it may seem pricy to many legacy food retail insiders, it does not seem so to Millennials.  Why?

There are three themes according to our own Grocerant Guru® first food Discovery, Develop a Cooking Skill-Set, Contemporized Relevance.  While most retail experts define our current economy as ‘sharing’ economy, Millennials find that BlueApron, Plated, and HelloFresh provide a platform for learning how to cook a meal, how to portion a meal, and share what they have leaned after doing so. What are these things important?  Here:

1. Studies show consumers waste as much as 40 percent of groceries bought at supermarkets.
2. According to the institute's November report on grocery shopper trends, “Consumers prepare an average of 4.9 dinners each week, with just 22 percent preparing every single evening of the week.”
3. Restaurants have a 74 percent share of away-from-home meals, the report says, but “about one-fourth of consumers (24 percent) outsource to grocery for fresh-prepared food instead of going to a restaurant, typically to save some money.”
4. According to the Food Marketing Institute study, the average consumer spent $102.90 a week on grocery items last year.

Restaurant customer counts continue to be flat or down overall for the restaurant sector over the past eight years. Yet leading mainstream restaurant media pundits deny that they are any threat one has to wonder.  Since 1998 the grocery sector has lost 50% of its market share yet leading grocery industry pundits deny that it is any threat to that sector either.  

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ stated “Customers are dynamic and retail sectors are as well.  New non-traditional avenues of distribution fresh food distribution have developed, are expanding, and will not fade away.”  When ‘new money’ is pouring into the intersection of consumer trial, adoption, and migration the status quo will evolve faster than many legacy companies will be prepared for.  How are you adjusting to the undercurrents of change? 

BlueApron, Plated, and HelloFresh are providing a value add service by elevating food quality at home, edifying a skill-set no longer taught at home, while greatly reducing food waste expanding relevance.  Millennials are moving from training wheels to a new food focused customer, a grocerant niche customer.

Since 1991 we have assisted companies grow, expand, and excel within the grocerant niche.  Are you ready for Outside Eye’s for inside profits?  Have we completed a Grocerant ScoreCard for your company?  Are you ready for a Grocerant Program Assessment? Call: 253-759-7869 today.