Meal kits may be simple to cook at home, but the journey they take to your doorstep is much more complex.
With the help of meal kit services like Blue Apron, culinary rookies can whip up North African spiced shrimp with dates, kale, and carrots like it's nothing. Instead of grocery shopping, kit subscribers receive a shipment of fresh ingredients and corresponding recipes once a week. In under 45 minutes, they can use the provided ingredients and instructions to put together a gourmet meal. In addition to their convenience, meal kits eliminate waste by including the exact amount of food necessary to make the meal. So, for example, if recipe instructions call for two sprigs of parsley, customers receive two sprigs of parsley (rather than an entire bundle) in their kit.
While it may be the largest, Blue Apron's not the only company in this booming industry, which generated $1.5 billion in sales in 2016. Companies have sprouted up to fill every niche of the market, from gluten-free to low-calorie meals. Each individual business' survival relies on mastering a complicated supply chain, forecasting demand for the future, and remaining relevant beyond the current spike in meal kit popularity.
Many of these meal kit companies are especially attractive to consumers because of their commitment to organic, locally-sourced ingredients. But while putting these meals together at home is simple, assembling organic ingredients from an array of suppliers is no easy feat. For example, PeachDish, an Atlanta-based meal kit delivery company, sources its herbs, vegetables, and meats from 75 different vendors — three quarters of which are local.
After the ingredients reach fulfillment centers, they need to be divided, prepared, packaged, and ultimately assembled into kit form, all while maintaining the different temperatures required to keep each ingredient fresh. The hardest part? The assembly process must happen at an extremely expedited pace. At Blue Apron, inventory turns over once a week.
Technology and forecasting services play a significant role in helping meal kit services keep pace with such speedy service. Since customers place their weekly orders in advance, companies can order the precise amount of ingredients necessary. From there, advanced software extrapolates customers' proclivities to form longer-term food trend predictions. As a result, meal kit companies can adapt to changing palates quickly, and are more agile than grocery stores and restaurants.
In addition to planning short-term meal sourcing, Blue Apron works with farmers to grow crops specific to its recipes. After laying out its menu a year in advance, the company works with a network of farmers to produce the crops that will most effectively grow on their land.
Meal kits may be efficient, but are they eco-friendly? Since each meal is precisely proportioned to the cook's needs, Blue Apron purports that its services work to reduce the 31% of post-harvest food that gets wasted. however, each ingredient is delivered in plastic baggies that must then be discarded. while every component of a blue apron package is biodegradable and recyclable, actually recycling them is no easy feat. for example, the kits' small baggies are made of a type of plastic that most cities won't accept for curbside pick-up. the ice packs, too, are only recyclable once thawed.
Terra's Kitchen, another meal kit supplier, solves this recycling problem by shipping food in reusable containers that customers leave out for daily pick-up. As each meal kit company competes for a slice of the market, the creative application of technological innovations and mastery a complicated supply chain will ultimately set the strongest competitors apart.