Meal
kits are in. Sort of. In the U.S. there are now more than 150
meal-kit businesses with estimated sales of $2.2 billion in 2017 (Wilson,
2018).
But,
many of those companies have yet to make a profit, and despite some high
profile IPO's companies are struggling with churn as existing users leave after
the novelty wears off and new ones are becoming increasingly hard to find.
Enter
Kroger and Walgreens. These two brands
who are both suffering from disruptions in their markets are joining forces to
set up meal kit shops within Walgreen stores.
The reason is simple - one stop shopping. Assuming the pilot program goes well, the
intent is for the shop to take up 1/3 of the floor space in the average
Walgreens. Meals will serve two and
pricing will start at $17. The express
recipes will cook in 15 minutes (Forbes,
2018)
As we
have learned, currently the primary driver of profits in drugstores are prescriptions
and companies are eager to expand "front of store" operations to
increase overall profits. Some
hypothesize that meal kits have appeal for beginner cooks and will provide a
point of entry for current non-cooks.
Does
this idea sound like a winner to you?
Will non-cooks be persuaded to give these meals a try? Is changing from a subscription delivery
service to a pick up one likely to attract users? What type and why? And what about you? Have you subscribed to a meal-kit
service? Will you pick one up on your
next trip to the drugstore?
Wilson,
B. (2018, November 30) The Surprising Rewards Of Meal Kits. wsj.com
Retrieved December 5, 2018, from
Forbes,
T. (2018, November 5) Kroger Setting Up
Shops Within 13 Walgreens, Launches Meal Kits Offering. mediapost.com. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/328880/kroger-setting-up-shops-within-13-walgreens-launc.html?edition=111985
4 comments:
I doubt that this will be a winner. The main reason why people use meal kits is that it's convenient and comes right to your house. A lot of people don't have the time or energy to go to the grocery store so I don't see why they would go to a Walgreens and pick up a meal kit when they can just pick up an already cooked meal instead. The idea of non-cooks trying meal kits works because they don't have to do much to get the ingredients, there are no decisions involved in choosing what dish to make, which there would be at one of these drugstores. I have tried a meal-kit service and really liked it, it's fun to try new recipes and it's convenient because of the portion size produce you receive. I would not pick up a meal kit at the drugstore because I don't really associate the drugstore with quality food.
I think it will be a winner, because meal kits is only used in some Deli shop where you can get food right away in my opinion. From this point of view, meal kits should not aim the end users, rather they should cooperate with Deli or some restaurant. And this is what they did. I will definitely try. However, I don't think changing delivery into pick up will attract users. Because people like delivery, seldom like to pick up. But it really depends on what city you are in. New York is more convenient for pick up if the store is not far. I never subscribe a meal kits before.
I could be a non-cook. In fact, I only cook 2 or 3 times a month with my girlfriend. So, I am not good at cooking at all. I knew the meal kit several years ago and I have tried it several times. But I give it up soon. As a non-cook, I don’t think the meal kit can really help due to several reasons. First, the time. Non-cooks don’t want spend time on cooking. The meal kit says that it only takes 15 mins to cook. However, 15 mins long is to the people who always cook. The non-cooks would take 30 mins and more to cook the meal kit. Second, the taste. Usually, non-cooks would like to get food from restaurants. The quality and the taste of food is good or above average. However, if non-cooks try to cook the meal kit by themselves, they would get a bad quality meal with terrible taste. Some non-cooks may improve their cooking skills later, but most of the non-cooks would give it up after the failure. Third, the price. The price of Blur Apron is $9.99 per serving. Usually, no-cooks would cook for at least two people be. (non-cooks don’t want to spend time on cooking for themselves.)
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-018-0347-9
The price for a two-people meal would be $20 dollars. No-cooks could spend about $25 dollars to get a better meal from a restaurant. No-cooks will not save much money from the meal kit.
It is a good idea to sell meal kits in the drugstore. It encourages people who want to try the meal kits and don’t want to the subscription. The pick-up means we can choose the meal we want anytime. However, the subscription means we must get the certain food from the one certain source. People who subscribe the meal kit means they must cook after they get the meal kit (or the meal kits will not be fresh). If the subscribers want to go to restaurants, they must think about their meal kits delivery. That is not good at all. Thus, Walgreen would get some success on the meal kits.
Guo Yu
This idea sounds attractive to me. I’m a beginner cook so it’s difficult for me to to choose different kinds of vegetables and meat. If I see the meal kits selling in Walgreens, I would give it a try. However, it is more acceptable for me to continue using subscription delivery service rather than pick up service. What does pick up service mean? If I could go to the store, why do I need to use pick up service by only saving a preparing time? It doesn’t help a lot comparing with subscription delivery service. For people who likes to go to store will not choose subscription delivery service, in the meantime, for people who likes to use delivery service, they won’t choose to pick up in store. Next time when I go to Walgreens, I’d love to pick one up, but that’s only based on I will go to Walgreens and the frequency is very low.
Xinhang Li
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