The Next Big Thing in Food: CUSTOMIZED MEAL KITS.

Do you have time starved friends that can’t cook?  Heck can you cook all of the multi-ethnic foods your family has become a custom too? A reason that the grocerant niche filled with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh and prepared food niche is booming is consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.  Meal Kits are becoming all of that in both new and traditional points of distribution.

Papa Murphy’s has a new “Mini Murph Make “N” bake pizza kit” that is consumer interactive and participatory for kids.  What you have to like about it is an incremental sale.  Complemented with mix and match bundling a staple of grocerant offerings this make N bake kit is menu magic.  The “Mini Murph” is an item that will again drive top line growth and bottom line profits for Papa Murphy’s.  In the pizza sector success does leave clues.

In the non-traditional avenue of distribution the focus is on Grubkit.com (OK maybe only I consider online meals non-traditional). You can order authentic pad Thai noodles kit, healthy banana muffins, or coconut shrimp curry to list but a few items.  Here is how it works, Grub kit will do the prep work prepare recipe all dry ingredients, you provide a couple of spec fresh items and the have fun cooking.  Special orders no problem.  Again consumer focused convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization, that is another retail foodservice success clue.  Here is some fun for all…..

Grubkits.com with its new GrubKits, prepackaged recipes in a box, has teamed up with The Daily Meal for a Design Your Own GrubKit contest.  Now that’s taking it to the next level. Here are the rules from The Daily Meal, “Here is how you need to design a GrubKit:

• Each dish consists of two components: Dry or non-perishable ingredients, and fresh ingredients.

• Kits should mostly contain non-perishable ingredients, and only up to two liquid ingredients.

• Kits should have 10 ingredients or less, depending on the size of each item.

• Recipes should only require two to five fresh ingredients, which should be easy to find (no fresh curry leaves or anything like that).

To enter the contest, and for your chance to win, you must submit ideas to Thedailymeal.com  and you must have an Email address so they can contact you if you win.

And even if your kit isn't selected, 15 randomly selected participants will get their hands on a Pad Thai Noodles Kit, with pre-measured ingredients and a recipe card to make pad Thai at home (worth $21.95).

Are you ready to step up your retail food game?  Have you entered the grocerant niche yet?

Outside eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning assistance.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant