If you are reading this, then you are well aware about the concept of meal kits. But have you ever wondered, why the meal kit companies have restricted themselves to only a few ideas, even though the industry has a lot of scope to expand. With self-restrictions on the industry, thousands of categories remain untapped. The purpose of this article is to explore the different categories of food and beverage which hasn’t been taken up by the meal kit industry yet. After reading this, you will be able to design your own list of dishes that can be sold as a meal kit, and win the customer’s heart.
There are more than 150 companies delivering meal kits, but none of them have explored the full potential of choices that can be offered. Currently, the dishes offered in meal kits are fancy recipes which are found in farm-to table kind of restaurants but in promoting this, we have forgotten that meal kits can be made for any recipe. More than fancy recipes, one would like to have meal kits of dishes which we currently enjoy at home using traditional grocery.
Theoretically any dish can be sold as a meal kit. To make the kit, you need a setup (kitchen) where you can prep the ingredients, provide the recipe for the customer to follow, and the technology to help optimise the customer experience. You can build your market and optimize your sales by outsourcing the customizable technology from Daily kit, your partner in profit, rather than developing it yourself. The technology for your needs will give your customer the experience to repeatedly place orders, and with help of dailykit.org, you will save the large chunk of money needed to develop your own technology.
Our research has determined that there are several categories which are popular in households but face multiple challenges. For example, it is cumbersome to gather the ingredients for Asian or Indian food, similarly very seldom do working professionals take the time to cook dishes like lasagne or pot pie, even if they devour it each time they go out. Due to these troubles of planning and cooking food, there has been a growing trend of purchasing frozen food. But these consumers can be aided to cook fresh food, by curating meal kits for these categories and with the popularity of the dishes, consumers will continue to place orders.
We have found that the following 10 categories are massive in terms of revenue and can have one of the highest consumer retention.
- Cocktails and Mock tails
Last time, on my birthday, I wanted to have a get-together at home with my friends and family. My girlfriend, who cherishes nothing else than Long Island tea, would not be happy with simple gin and tonic. Did we celebrate it at home? No! We ended up going outside, just because we couldn’t make those cocktails at home.
There are others like us who wished they could have a drink which tastes better, with your food then soda. With a drink-kit, 47% of millennials and 61% of Gen-X who enjoy their beverages at home, will have a better experience at dinner.
Why can’t there be kits for these drinks? I believe it is much easier to pack beverages than any other dish. Heck, I believe I’ll be the biggest customer of this category. Voila! Whether, it is the sangria, LITs or any other lip-smacking drink, the fruits and perfect blend of the flavors of leaves ginger and etc., can be packed in the proportion for the drink and delivered to the consumer. The consumer can follow the recipe and mix the ingredients, to enjoy a beverage made at home.
- Bakery & Desserts
Who doesn’t love a baked cheesecake or a red velvet cupcake? Ever since MasterChef has aired, people want to try different type of cakes at home. But how many people find it convenient to bake themselves? My guess? NOT MANY! Moreover, these flavors have to be carefully prepared with the accurate quantity of the ingredients. Red Velvet NYC is already helping others, bake the best tasting cake for your loved ones at home. Like Red Velvet NYC, you can give the exact ingredients for the cake and help the bakers reduce the preparation time from 4-5 hours, to only 20 mins.
Many of the ingredients, needed for the baking needs to be prepped. As a result, it is difficult and extremely expensive to small helpings of desserts. With the recipe and ingredients for the dessert, anyone will be able to make a different dish every day.
- Vegan & Plant Based
People in America have started adopting veganism, as they have realized the health benefits of turning vegan. Celebrities such as President Clinton, Al Gore, Elizabeth Kucinich, and Cory Booker have been advocating and spreading awareness of such diet.
With the growing awareness for veganism, consumers need assistance to prepare vegan food, especially because preparing it at home can be difficult, due to the scarcity of recipes. A vegan kit with a recipe and ingredients can make the same meal interesting and refreshing to make at home. As others are still planning, Green Chef has already identified this lucrative opportunity.
- Sushi
With the growing craze for Japanese food, restaurants are fighting for $2 Billion that is spent on sushi annually. But you can get a bigger share of the pie, if you provide sushi to people who want to roll tempura at home. The challenge in Sushi, isn’t rolling the rise with the seaweed, rather finding good wasabi, fillings and different quality ingredients that are required in a small quantity. Customers will be more than happy to buy small batches of different fillings, sufficient seaweed, cooked rice, and pickled ginger, packed in box and delivered to them with the instructions to complete the meal.
- Seafood
A deep insight tells us that while per capita consumption of chicken, pork and beef at “home” vs “away from home” is somewhat closer, in case of seafood, the difference is huge. More seafood is being consumed in restaurants than at home. While, it is attributed to the fact that seafood is difficult to cook, the truth is far from it. If it were true, then Asia would not be so populated.
The problem with seafood isn’t cooking rather sourcing the right type of fish. Balancing the flavors is challenging. With chef curated recipes, mastering any seafood dish is a piece of cake now.
- Barbeque
Do you feel that too much time is required for prepping food for barbequing and grilling? By the time you get to the fun, you are already exhausted and half-way down placing an order for delivery.
Barbequing is time consuming, taking hours to marinate the meat and veggies. It is an activity that is more than cooking or grilling food. We get excited when someone invites us over for grilling (no pun intended). But while it is fun for us, it is a hassle for the host. Bringing the ingredients together, is very time consuming.
What if all the ingredients were prepped and ready for grilling? The meat was marinated beforehand? I can bet we’ll see more barbeque parties thrown. With a barbeque-kit, 63% of the grill owners who use their grill the year round, will be able cook tastier food in half the time. Barbeque kits have the potential to save substantial time, so we have more time with our friends and family on the grill. This is what we want, isn’t it?
- Holiday food
For working parents and others alike, holidays are a time meant for spending with family and not in the kitchen. Besides, there are countless parents who are unable to master the art of cooking and thus cannot share the same holiday experience with their kids which they had while growing up.
Whether, it is the thanksgiving turkey or the shrimp shooters for Easter, preparing food for holidays can be made simpler with the help of meal kits. By taking care of the tedious task to collect all the ingredients, scaling the recipe for the family and finally handing it over it to the household, holiday kits will make holidays more relaxing.
- Pizza
Whether it is in restaurants, delivery-chains or frozen food, pizza is popular with everyone. Globally, a $11 Billion frozen pizza market has developed which is growing year on year as consumers love to cook pizza at home. You’d want to take advantage of the popularity, by providing your pizza kit which will change the experience of eating pizza. Your pizza sauces and blends of cheese will let everyone relish the uniqueness that your kitchen offers. Instead of stacking frozen pizza boxes, filled with preservatives, customers will be gushing orders for your pizza kits.
Assembling a pizza kit, with packing the prepped base and customized toppings in the box, is probably the simplest meal kit possible. The customer will prepare the pizza by taking out the base putting the sauce and placing toppings on top and simply put it in oven. With these kits, consumers will legitimately have the option to “make your own pizza”.
- Pan Cakes
Pancakes are widely consumed for breakfast by kids and adults. Though, the base is same for each, they are made different by variety of different toppings, be it maple syrup or blueberry crush. We have seen many establishments offering range of pancakes which differ in their combination of toppings. In our opinion, pancakes can be one of the most sought-after kits for breakfast as consumer wouldn’t need to stock on all the different types of toppings and can gamify with their breakfast with ease.
Well, if you’re here, we can bet your mind would be gushing with more categories that can be made accessible with the help of meal kits. If you’re a chef/blogger/restaurant owner who has their own crazy ideas and would like our help in realizing their ideas to execution, do not hesitate to contact us. Just to remind you again, Dailykit.org is the technology stack that will help you with your meal kit venture without ever requiring to visit VC’s offices.