If you're from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, or Pennsylvania, you probably know the ubiquitous supermarket chain ShopRite. The number one food retailer in the New York metropolitan region, its nearly 300 stores serve 6 million customers a week. Those shoppers know the grocer for their wide variety of basic foodstuffs, from meat to brownie mix to Cheetos.
But these days that's not enough. To compete with upscale specialty grocers like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, they have added sections filled with organic beans, free trade coffee and gluten free mac n' cheese. To entice growing immigrant populations, they have added aisles with Asian, Middle Eastern and Latino staples, like fish sauce, Bamba and adobo. And for busy families they have added more ready-to-eat foods, with hot and cold meal bars offering everything from pulled pork to sushi. Not to worry: still on the shelves are bologna, white bread and Velveeta.
Still, the stores were in danger of missing out on the hottest trend in food today, the DIY meal kit. Originating in Sweden in 2007 as "Middagsfrid" (roughly translated as "dinnertime bliss"), the model made its way to these shores in 2012 as Blue Apron, HelloFresh and Plated. Those services grew steadily, attracting competition as celebrity endorsements and rival services sprang up. There are now offerings from Martha Stewart (Marley Spoon), Beyoncé (22 Days Nutrition) and even Tom Brady (Purple Carrot). More recently the 600-pound twin gorillas of retailing, Amazon and Walmart, have entered the fray, offering everything from cheesy ravioli bake to chicken enchiladas.
In each of these kits, all the needed items are delivered to your door or available as a single unit to pick up, along with step-by-step directions to produce a finished meal. Reviews vary, but in general are fairly positive. After all, most cooking is not rocket science. It's the assembling of diverse ingredients and prep work that takes the time. In that light, the genius in these kits lies not so much in simplifying complex preparation, but in putting all the component parts in the right proportions together in one place. Then by following the explicit Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 instructions, you can turn a bunch of greens, some chicken breasts and a box of pasta into Basil Garlic Chicken Fettuccine as easily as you can say Mario Batali.
So now here comes ShopRite, if not late to the party then trying to carve its own niche. Under the brand "The Chef's Menu" and for less than $15 for dinner for two or four (depending on the offering or on how hungry you are), you can make Thai Coconut Chicken, Chicken Marsala or even Korean Beef Stir Fry. Note the offerings: not a pork chop and mashed potato among them. That's because they are very consciously trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded field by jumping on the twin bandwagons of making your own and eating international. Or if you will, making Chef You into Chef Yu.
Still, it's a crowded field and the competition is fierce. Consumers seem to like the idea, but a shakeout is underway. Home chefs have been moving away from subscription models like HelloFresh and towards individual offerings. That's one of the reasons that industry leader Blue Apron's stock price has plunged recently, even while in-store meal kits generated $154.6 million in sales in 2017, an increase of more than 26% over year-ago results. Seems like adults can be picky eaters just like their kids.
A few years ago a survey of British mothers (and yes, it's still mostly women who do the majority of the cooking) found that 4000 moms admitted they made the same 9 meals over and over, while one in four made the same meal on the same day of the week. It's likely no different on these shores. With jobs, school and other obligations, it's no easy task to gather the ingredients and whip up a culinary delight for a family dinner. That's part of the attraction of kitchen appliances like the Instapot which promise to cut down on cooking time. But whether you sauté it or fry it, braise it or baste it, you still need the right stuff to throw into the pan. In that light, ShopRite is probably in the right spot. Or to update Herbert Hoover, prosperity means "a pork scaloppini in every pot."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to cook. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
But these days that's not enough. To compete with upscale specialty grocers like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, they have added sections filled with organic beans, free trade coffee and gluten free mac n' cheese. To entice growing immigrant populations, they have added aisles with Asian, Middle Eastern and Latino staples, like fish sauce, Bamba and adobo. And for busy families they have added more ready-to-eat foods, with hot and cold meal bars offering everything from pulled pork to sushi. Not to worry: still on the shelves are bologna, white bread and Velveeta.
Still, the stores were in danger of missing out on the hottest trend in food today, the DIY meal kit. Originating in Sweden in 2007 as "Middagsfrid" (roughly translated as "dinnertime bliss"), the model made its way to these shores in 2012 as Blue Apron, HelloFresh and Plated. Those services grew steadily, attracting competition as celebrity endorsements and rival services sprang up. There are now offerings from Martha Stewart (Marley Spoon), Beyoncé (22 Days Nutrition) and even Tom Brady (Purple Carrot). More recently the 600-pound twin gorillas of retailing, Amazon and Walmart, have entered the fray, offering everything from cheesy ravioli bake to chicken enchiladas.
In each of these kits, all the needed items are delivered to your door or available as a single unit to pick up, along with step-by-step directions to produce a finished meal. Reviews vary, but in general are fairly positive. After all, most cooking is not rocket science. It's the assembling of diverse ingredients and prep work that takes the time. In that light, the genius in these kits lies not so much in simplifying complex preparation, but in putting all the component parts in the right proportions together in one place. Then by following the explicit Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 instructions, you can turn a bunch of greens, some chicken breasts and a box of pasta into Basil Garlic Chicken Fettuccine as easily as you can say Mario Batali.
So now here comes ShopRite, if not late to the party then trying to carve its own niche. Under the brand "The Chef's Menu" and for less than $15 for dinner for two or four (depending on the offering or on how hungry you are), you can make Thai Coconut Chicken, Chicken Marsala or even Korean Beef Stir Fry. Note the offerings: not a pork chop and mashed potato among them. That's because they are very consciously trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded field by jumping on the twin bandwagons of making your own and eating international. Or if you will, making Chef You into Chef Yu.
Still, it's a crowded field and the competition is fierce. Consumers seem to like the idea, but a shakeout is underway. Home chefs have been moving away from subscription models like HelloFresh and towards individual offerings. That's one of the reasons that industry leader Blue Apron's stock price has plunged recently, even while in-store meal kits generated $154.6 million in sales in 2017, an increase of more than 26% over year-ago results. Seems like adults can be picky eaters just like their kids.
A few years ago a survey of British mothers (and yes, it's still mostly women who do the majority of the cooking) found that 4000 moms admitted they made the same 9 meals over and over, while one in four made the same meal on the same day of the week. It's likely no different on these shores. With jobs, school and other obligations, it's no easy task to gather the ingredients and whip up a culinary delight for a family dinner. That's part of the attraction of kitchen appliances like the Instapot which promise to cut down on cooking time. But whether you sauté it or fry it, braise it or baste it, you still need the right stuff to throw into the pan. In that light, ShopRite is probably in the right spot. Or to update Herbert Hoover, prosperity means "a pork scaloppini in every pot."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to cook. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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