meal delivery marketing

Another Article about the (Me)llennials

Why do I choose to have my home cooking experience delivered?

It could be because I’m a typical Millennial who’s lazy, entitled, and overly connected with all things on the Internet. Or. I see the following benefits of NOT going to the grocery store:

        • Not getting frustrated with checkout lines / cashiers.
        • Not stupidly standing in the meat / fish section trying to determine just how much two people actually eat in the form of pounds and ounces, while comparing two exact looking pieces of beef – all the while freezing in the ice-box atmosphere.
        • Not getting frustrated with checkout lines / cashiers.
        • Not reading backs of labels for health information on everything I purchase.
        • Not buying a whole bag of carrots when I really only wanted one.
        • Not getting frustrated with checkout lines / cashiers.
        • And not fumbling around with a list or recipe that’s been hastily jotted down from hours of looking for some new way to cook chicken on MarthaStewart.com.
          HelloFreshImage

I admit it, it’s a luxury, but one of which I’m growing more and more fond.What first started as a way to support one of my college friends has quickly become a staple in my apartment (since we Millennials also avoid purchasing houses at all costs). As a novice in the kitchen where even the blue box is a struggle, these HelloFresh boxes are a welcomed salvation.

Every Wednesday, we receive a large box at our door with three meals, pre-proportioned, with recipes that have yet to repeat themselves (I keep saying that when that moment comes, THAT’S when we’ll stop our subscription). There’s a seafood dish and then two different meats with fresh herbs, produce, and spices, that have been rationed to the perfect amount for two people – with no left-overs, unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it. 

When I tell people I use this service, the two reactions are:
“Isn’t that expensive?” And, “Isn’t all that packaging bad for the environment?”

To the first, I answer: if you’re comparing it to going to the grocery store, yes it’s more expensive, but I choose to pay that little extra to not have to deal with the whole grocery store in general. If you’re comparing it to my old eating habits of ordering food every night in NYC, well, then, no, it’s far cheaper.

To the second, I reply: I thought that myself, and was ashamed to admit I subscribed to something so environmentally unfriendly. Especially after that first meal left our counters cluttered with little plastic bags and vacuum-sealed containers for the fish / meat. However, I later did my homework.

Starting with watching John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” where he did a segment on how much food America wastes and how grocery stores were a large culprit to the problem, I began to enjoy seeing an empty fridge with no extra food that we weren’t going to use. All thanks to our perfectly measured HelloFresh meals.

But I wasn’t satisfied with the amount of plastic and packaging materials that the service necessitated, until I did some research. When you think about the average American who doesn’t use cloth bags when going to the grocery store all the way to the germaphobic ones who use a plastic bag for every. single. produce item, the plastic count adds up. And compare that to the tiny bags for spices, herbs, and some larger bags for loose food (such as brussel sprouts – which I recently just cooked and they were delicious), HelloFresh is becoming more and more environmental. In addition, you could argue that you’re saving on emissions since your food is sharing space and route with the FedEx / USPS service. The full article I found most helpful is found here.

As a Charlotte marketing agency with a dedicated shopper marketing practice group, birdsong gregory prides ourselves on being knowledgeable in shopper trends. With the rise in popularity of the Food Network, people are becoming more adventurous in their cooking and want easy, fun, doable recipes that allow them to ease into “sous-chef” status…at least in the comfort of their own home. What they’re lacking are the attainable recipes and the ingredients. Services like HelloFresh make that dream possible. Granted, to an extent, but definitely diversifies the meals.

Growing up, my father had four signature meals that he would rotate throughout the week, something that I have now labeled as one of the biggest reasons why I was an ignorant eater, and thus, a picky one. HelloFresh eliminates this problem and forces you to try new things, I have now grown to tolerate mushrooms more than I did.

But, do I think this service replace the grocery store? Hard to say, it’s definitely creating a huge and profitable following as we mentioned earlier this year, but I don’t believe Harris Teeter and Publix are in any sort of danger.

Will I continue to use HelloFresh? For the foreseeable future, yes. Especially since chicken is still proving to be a Waterloo in our apartment. But the amount that I have learned, the meals I have been exposed to, and, quite honestly, the time I spend cooking versus watching TV and waiting for a delivery, is well worth the luxury.

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