You've Been Served

Monthly box subscriptions seem to be the next big thing when it comes to combining e-commerce and and a membership fee model. While this has been around for a few years with products and samples a new and interesting format has been the evolution signing up to receive curated food and recipes. I decided to try "Plated", simply because I seem to see their advertisements more often than their competitors Blue Apron or Hello Fresh.

I ordered my plated meal on a Monday with the scheduled delivery date of that Friday. On Thursday I received a friendly email from Plated confirming that my meal was en route and confirming the ingredients I would need to have on hand to prepare my meal. For the recipe I chose which was Meatballs with Zucchini, Blackened Tomatoes, and Mint.  this include having an egg, olive oil and salt and pepper on hand.

Experience
My package arrived Friday afternoon in a cool refrigerated container via Fed Ex. Portions were packed in groups of two and according to food group. All ingredients were pre measured and clearly labeled.  A bright and colorful card detailed instructions with pictures demonstrating each of the eight steps. When I order this meal it did not occur to me that I would be spending a significant amount of time slicing and dicing. The instructions estimated the recipe would take between 30-45 minutes to repair; I estimate I spent about 25 minutes of my time peeling the zucchini to make pasta ribbons. I had always wanted to learn how to slice veggies for pasta alternatives so this was a fortunate side effect. Instructions for mixing the meatballs were quite simples and the roasting of the tomatoes took no time. The tools that Plated provided me made me feel confident during the preparation that I could produce a quality product.

Feedback
I served this meal to my husband, sister and mother. I received very positive feedback on the presentation, food combination and process. My husband, a busy Finance/IT professional and father to our two small children felt it was a do again and is hoping to select and cook our next Plated order. I look forward to this too as Fred has not had a lot of training when it comes to cooking and I believe that Plated can help him to fine-tune his cooking techniques.
My sister (who weighs 105 lbs) was concerned that she would not feel full since the pasta was not pasta but zucchini. My husband explained her feeling of fullness would come from the meatballs; Courtney remarked the whole experience felt rather "yuppy".
My mother, a recent retiree, volunteered next time to go food shopping for me at Wilson Farms in Lexington, she thought I was crazy for paying $15 per serving for the meal. After I walked her through their  target consumer (someone who makes too much money to be wondering around a supermarket) the wheels began to turn on her offering her own version of a Plated service. We anxiously await hr shopping her proposal to local VC firms.

Complements
I think that Plated is missing out on an opportunity to sell cooking accessories to their customers. Plated assumes you own sharp knives or a pan. It would be helpful if they could list the tools needed at the time of the order and link you to a page where you can purchase the needed equipment. If Plated decides that is too far outside its business model it should consider partnering with a Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table and receiving a % of revenue for each product sold. They could expand this to include table settings as well. I would also recommend that Plated add technique video's to their website; for a moment I was unsure of how to slice the zucchini, referencing their website for a tutorial on how to prepare this meal would seem like a natural fit and another way to connect with your customer.


Strategy
After this activity was done I thought a lot about what Plated's strategy was. If I was an investor I would be incorporating my suggestions above so that I would catch the attention of Amazon and use Plated as a launching pad for the first online grocery store. The disruption factor would be that it would change the way people purchased food; have them buy according to recipes and not in mass quantities.