Nestlé Invests in Meal Delivery Service
Nestlé has led $77 million in new funding for startup meal delivery service Freshly, that was also supported by existing investors. There are no plans at this time for Freshly to include Nestlé products in its meal kits. Freshly markets its meal kits as fully prepared and ready to pop in the microwave for three minutes.
Other major companies investing in meal delivery services, include Unilever, which invested in startup Sun Basket and Campbell Soup, which invested $10 million in Chef’d.
Grocers also see the benefit of the kits. Last month, Kroger launched Prep + Pared subscription meal kits leveraging its size, distribution footprint and supply chain. It markets the meal kit off several differences among its competitors: The meals are less expensive costing around $14 for a meal for two, they are available in test stores, making it convenient for consumers to look over the packaging, ingredients and recipes and, Kroger does most of the chopping and peeling, unlike competitors like Blue Apron, saying its meals take only about 20 minutes to prepare.
Meanwhile, Blue Apron is the first meal delivery service to launch an initial public offering earlier this month. The meal-kit market has reached about $1.5 billion and growing capturing the attention of a range of entities looking to elbow their way in from high-powered businesswomen like Martha Stewart to entrepreneurs like the Vegan mom living in Illinois.
“Nestle is the largest food company in the world and this is the first sizable investment [from their industry],” said Michael Wystrach, co-founder and CEO of Freshly, in an interview with Fortune. “The evolution of food in grocery stores is dramatically changing. We are at the very early stages of this movement but it is gaining traction and going to get better and better.” Read the article …
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