Ingredients take the lead

Kyle Ransford, chief executive officer of Chef’d, is neither a self-described “foodie” nor a chef, but he says he loves to eat and loves to cook. The inspiration for founding the company in 2014 came when he found he was asking himself, “Why wasn’t there a button that says, ‘Send me the ingredients to make this dish’?”

Today, he couldn’t be more enthusiastic about partnering with supermarkets to grow his business, and Chef’d is already on the shelves in Gelsons Markets, Tops Friendly Markets, Target and Food Lion stores.

While most meal kit services have a subscription model offering a menu of dishes each week, Chef’d customers may choose from 1,600 recipes at any time because the company stocks the ingredients (approximately 5,000 stock-keeping units), essentially acting as a grocery operation.

“We’re a value-added platform that acts as a back-end fulfillment [house] for our partners’ food and marketing efforts,” Ransford said. “There’s pretty incredible technology in manufacturing and infrastructure — to get just-in-time supply chain, plus just-in-time portioning so, for example, we could bring in flour, portioning it as called for in the recipe, into individual meals.”

He predicts retail will become an increasingly important component of brand building for meal kits, with most pricing between $15-$20.

Recipe rules

In 2016, Berlin-based Marley & Spoon partnered with Martha Stewart to launch Martha & Marley Spoon based on Stewart’s collection of recipes. On a weekly basis, customers receive a chilled box with fresh ingredients and step-by-step recipe cards.

Recipes are constantly being tweaked in the test kitchen, according to Jennifer Aaronson, the company’s culinary director.

“We’re aiming to get the most flavor out of eight ingredients (or less), and require the least amount of prep in order to complete the dish within 30 minutes,” she said. “Broiled is typically substituted for baked to effect faster cooking and caramelization; we’re also very mindful of reducing the number of dishes being used so we can cut clean-up time.”

The difference in a Martha & Marley Spoon recipe often comes in a little packet of dried sriracha powder or “other interesting spices beyond cumin,” Aaronson said.

In the future, the company may offer dessert as an add-on option, similar to the cookie kits that were very successful last holiday season.

“We see a future moving forward with these add-on kits,” Aaronson explained. “We are well on our way to profitability with a different business model,” she said, as the company now sells single kits through Amazon Fresh for next day delivery. “We are listening to our customers.”