Making Money with Meal Kits Partnerships

Regular readers of this blog know that Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® called 2018 the year of foodservice partnerships. He also believes that there is plenty of room for growth in the meal kit sector moving forward given the proper partnerships.

Recently the CEO of Marley Spoon told Reuters he expects the Berlin based meal kit company to be profitable by the end of next year. Fabian Siegel said the company hopes to raise about $53 million when its stock starts trading July 2 on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Today Australia represents approximately 37% of Marley Spoon's revenue, according to TechCrunch, with the U.S. and Europe slightly behind that level. Siegel told TechCrunch the company has broken even in Australia and expects to hit profitability there in the second half of this year.

Marley Spoon is quite optimistic about its prospects through the upcoming IPO. It's been focused on innovations, including a Thanksgiving dinner partnership with Martha Stewart.  Regular readers of this blog know the team at Foodservice Solutions® was first to call this partnerships a success  Martha & Marley Spoon and Dinnerly, is a less-expensive meal kit option with fewer ingredients a set of differentiation points that are still relevant..

Partnerships are the new electricity driving retail foodservice success today according to Johnson. According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, grocerant consultants, urban farming (produce, seafood, etc.), autonomous delivery, voice and visceral mobile ordering, Geo-based hand held marketing. This program has all of that.

Foodservice retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  That will require brands to embrace new fresh food partnerships more now than ever before according to Johnson. Let’s look at the meal kit sector as an example.

Blue Apron and Costco, have formed a partnership and both teamed with Airbnb, pop-ups and various advertising channels  to acquire and retain customers and boost its bottom line.  HelloFresh recently acquired Green Chef, an organic meal-kit company, and placed meal kits inside then formed a partnership with 600 Ahold Delhaize stores, to drive sales.

A 2017 Packaged Facts report noted the meal-kit market had hit $5 billion in sales, and Food Business News reported it could achieve $35 billion by 2025, so there's a lot to gain if retention, marketing and delivery problems can be overcome.

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that partnerships specifically non-traditional partnerships will drive incremental growth within all sectors of retail foodservice.  What is your new electricity? Do you need Outside-Eye’s to drive inside sales?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit www.Facebook.com/StevenJohnson www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/  or www.twitter.com/grocerant

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Family Meals Made Easy Dinnerly

Success does leave clues and meal kits are one new retail food product that has struck a chord with consumers according to Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. One person that seemingly always finds success is Martha Stewart with meal kits she stared with Martha & Marley Spoon.  Now Martha & Marley Spoon have developed Dinnerly with meals that cost less than the average Meal Kit.

Dinnerly offers meal kits that are packed with flavor and value and that are easy to prepare for around $ 5 dollars per serving. In short Dinnerly is a discounted meal kit option with plans on expanding meal kit option to more homes. Each kit contains only one or two ingredients that need to be chopped, with a total of only six ingredients per packages.

Each meal kit recipe is designed to require 30 minutes or less of prep work and cooking time and they are advertised as ‘picky-eater approved” each is available in either two or four servings sizes. Stewart’s team first tested the Dinnerly kits on the west coast and is now offering them nationwide.

Most meal kit companies the ilk of Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and Plated focus on the high-end cooking experiences, elevated menu selections rather than cost.  Dinnerly is addressing the cost factor right up front.

CEO Fabian Siegel focused on keeping the overhead low in order to offer a more affordable product several steps were taken to ‘simplify’ the kits; including ‘physical recipe cards are not shipped with the meals but are only available digitally and can be printed.  Delivery is not free either, unless you buy from Amazon and are a Prime member. 

Siegel stated “that he would rather cut down on those amenities than compromise the quality of the food. Take all of the luxuries out that people don’t want to pay for and don’t need but keep the core value.  The quality of food is the same it’s just a bit simpler’.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant

Amazon Branded Private Label Meal Kits

You knew that when Amazon rolled out  Martha Stewart Meal Kits that a brand name with 95% brand name  recognition. That the day would come that Amazon would expand its grocerant niche fresh prepared meal solutions.   Regular readers of this blog know we touted the launch of the meal kit business.  With Whole Foods acquisition Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson believes both Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food will play a greater role at Amazon.

When Amazon teamed up with Martha Stewart to sell meal kits no one should have been surprised. Introducing fine fast food or Martha’s Meal Kits, Amazon is edifying its own halo of ‘better-for-you’ fine fresh fast food. Once again legacy grocery stores are taking a wait and see approach to meal kits.

Today most grocery stores, offer meal kit services  that look more like yesterday than tomorrow despite their adoption by millennials as ‘training wheels’ for cooking a ‘perfect or special occasion meal at home according to Steven Johnson www.FoodserviceSolutions.us Grocerant Guru®

Martha Stewart meal kits were a learning platform for Amazon Prime members through “AmazonFresh they included some of Stewart's favorite recipes broken down into six steps with pre-portioned seasonal ingredients to cook a meal for two.  Amazon customers don't have to commit to a certain number of meals or order a week in advance, which is what most of the meal kit subscription services require.”

Packaged Facts estimates meal kit services generated $1.5 billion in sales last year not having to sign up for an ongoing subscription and the one hour delivery time offered by Amazon in most major cities this could become a coup for both AmazonFresh, Martha Stewart and as they expand options for consumers.

Do your marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success. 

Meal Kits in Every Channel of Foodservice

Convenience Stores, Dollar Stores, and Grocery Stores are developing meal kit programs to drive top line sales and bottom line profits with a valued add customer relevance according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. The battle for incremental sales is now focused on meal solutions and meal kits reduce consumer’s consternation over What’s for Dinner.

While in the US the Meal Kit business sales are reported to hit $1.5I Billion in 2017. In fact Piper Jaffray published a note in June 2016 predicting that the Meal Kit market will reach $4 Billion near term and $36 Billion in annual sales by 2026. There is huge opportunity in grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared meals and meal kits solutions. 

In-store meal kit sales totaled $80.6 million in the year ended March 4, 2017, up 6.7% from the previous year. In 2017 25% of the US Households have tried a meal kit.  Meal kits are as our Grocerant Guru® pointed out three years ago training wheels for Millennials.

Meal kits have added customer relevance as they are perceived as healthier than other meal options available to them. In fact, 81% of consumers in a recent Nielsen survey said they believe meal kits are healthier for them than prepared foods from their local grocery store.

The undercurrents of success and adoption of meal kit by both your and old as meal kits are delivering: 92% of adults say they’re satisfied with the quality of the produce in their meal kits, 91% are satisfied with how the meat is packaged and 66% say they eat seafood more when they purchase meal kits according to the Nielsen study.

Nielsen study also found that, 44% say would be influenced to start buying them again if they helped save time on meal planning.  86% say they’d like them to include a dessert and 36% say they’d like meal kits available at their local grocery store. And as with any consumer product, price is always a key influencer, as 46% of consumers say they would buy meal kits if they were less expensive.

What we know now is that Dollar stores will offer meal kits for less money, Convenience stores will offer meal kits with ease and quick service, and grocery stores will offer meal kits in that are awkward to find in the store, CPG focused not customer focused, and spend more time tweaking their meal kit location in the store, than focusing on Why customer want them in the first place.  Restaurants on the other have will double down drive cost and consumer solution based meal kits garnering incremental Share of Stomach.

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed, Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Amazon Branding Fresh Meal Kits for All Ages

Love her or not Martha Stewart is a brand name with 95% brand name recognition. The halo of quality food knowledge encompasses much of what Martha Stewart is doing today.  Regular readers of this blog know we touted the launch of the meal kit business.  Well here we go again as Martha is building sales with Amazon. 

When Amazon teamed up with Martha Stewart to sell meal kits no one should have been surprised. Introducing fine fast food or Martha’s Meal Kits, Amazon is edifying its own halo of ‘better-for-you’ fine fresh fast food. Once again legacy grocery stores are taking a wait and see approach to meal kits.

Many lagecy grocery chains, the ilk of Albertsons, Kroger, Publix and Wegmans, still don't offer meal kit services despite their adoption by millennials as ‘training wheels’ for cooking a ‘perfect or special occasion meal at home according to Steven Johnson www.FoodserviceSolutions.us Grocerant Guru®

Martha Stewart meal kits are available to Amazon Prime members through “AmazonFresh and include some of Stewart's favorite recipes broken down into six steps with pre-portioned seasonal ingredients to cook a meal for two. , Amazon customers don't have to commit to a certain number of meals or order a week in advance, which is what most of the meal kit subscription services require.”

Martha Stewart stated “I am pleased to collaborate with the most innovative retailer, Amazon, to bring better weeknight cooking solutions to all customers…..It is so important to cook wholesome, delicious, healthy dinners, and I believe people will enjoy the nutritious and seasonal recipes offered by Martha & Marley Spoon, coupled with the flexibility and convenience of AmazonFresh.”

Packaged Facts estimates meal kit services generated $1.5 billion in sales last year not having to sign up for an ongoing subscription and the one hour delivery time offered by Amazon in most major cities this could become a coup for both AmazonFresh and Martha Stewart.

Do your marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.