Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769179
q&a In what ways does the company plan to build on its growth both in the United States and around the globe? We are currently active in nine countries, making a difference to our customers' lives by enabling them to live better and healthier. As we increase our customer base in these countries, we can continuously optimize our offering, through personalization, broader choice, and more delivery options. In addition, we may evaluate ways to bring our service to even more countries over the next two years. How is the company using technology and innovation to further its growth? Only by enabling flexibility can the company further its growth. Our technology powers a huge perishable supply chain facilitating customer interaction, supplier tracking, order management, and business intelligence together with our data analysis that allows us to accurately and efficiently forecast demand. By meeting the exact taste of each individual, delivering personalized menus to each country, and gathering individual feedback from each customer, we can build an even better product week after week. How does HelloFresh set itself apart from competitors in the market? With more than five years of international experience and four years of U.S.-based experience, we have a comprehensive understanding of consumers' needs and demands. HelloFresh has a team of registered dietitians on staff that reviews all ingredients and recipes before they make it onto the menu. We include all nutritional information and allergens on our boxes, recipe cards, and website for complete trans- parency so [customers] can select the best recipes. We create recipes that will take 30 minutes or less to cook. We focus on making cook- ing at home fun by building our customers' confidence through small victories in the kitchen. How have meal kit services changed the way people prepare and eat food? Everything else has become more convenient, but cooking has remained in the dark ages. The fundamental process of cooking has not evolved. Everything else has: takeout, frozen, and pre-prepared foods. So, we are eating more processed food than ever before. HelloFresh is sim- plifying getting a healthier home-cooked meal on the table by taking care of all of the associated hassle: the recipe planning, grocery shop- ping, and ingredient prepping, and delivering it straight to customers' homes, making cooking as simple and seamless as possible. There are so many excuses why people don't cook more, one of which is they don't know where to begin. We give them the tools they need to be successful and confident in the kitchen. When you cook a HelloFresh recipe, it feels like something difficult is being broken down into something really doable and simple. South-Indian Shrimp Curry on a Tuesday night …you'd never do that on your own. How do you see meal kit services growing and changing in the future? The industry is moving toward customization. The standard offering started with a mere handful of weekly recipe choices, all in similar quantities. We've had an advantageous head start on product innova- tion, testing, and expansion. We've introduced two significant new products nationally, [including] family boxes that feed more than two, boxes with up to five different meals per week, and recipes by a world- famous chef. We expect to continue customizing and expanding our portfolio to exceed consumer expectations. The collaboration with Jamie Oliver is also indicative of a larger trend—the food establish- ment's recognition of recipe kit delivery as the way of the future. Major food and beverage purveyors, e-retailers, groceries, personal chefs, postal services, and brands of all stripes across foodservice and technol- ogy are expressing a desire to collaborate. Emily Crowe is a freelance writer based in Ohio and a regular contributor to Specialty Food Magazine. There are so many excuses why people don't cook more, one of which is they don't know where to begin. We give them the tools they need to be successful and confident in the kitchen. 68 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com