
Gobble Promises to Help Customers Make Delicious Meals in 10 Minutes or Less - yurisagalov
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/23/gobble-launch
======
sboak
My experience with Gobble went as follows: I was going to do their trial but
bailed before completing checkout because their terms automatically subscribe
you for weekly meals. I got a call a few days later saying that I was being
sent the meals anyway and that, also, they weren't sure which meals I was
supposed to be sent so they might be wrong. No offer to refund my money. They
said the meals would be arriving the next day. It's now over a week later and
I never received the incorrect meals that I never actually ordered but was
charged for. I emailed customer service again about this and haven't heard
back. Caveat emptor.

~~~
ooshma
It was really great to chat with you on the phone just now. I'm so immensely
sorry for the completely botched souffle that was your experience with us pre-
launch. We fixed the website bug you encountered immediately, and equally
important -- we've just hired two new "Gobble Sous Chefs" (our term for your
assistant or customer service) that will start tomorrow and next week to
properly handle any and all questions or issues for our community. Being
available to our customers is my #1 priority (after helping you make insanely
delicious meals), and you won't be encountering any lack of service in the
future. Separately, if you ever want to try a few meals on the house, I would
be so happy to personally deliver meals for you and say hello.

~~~
aidanf
"Being available to our customers is my #1 priority (after helping you make
insanely delicious meals)"

So it's your #2 priority then...

------
idlewords
My experience in trying Blue Apron (a sous-chef simulator):

* extravagant, simply incredible amounts of packaging. There was easily a 4:1 ratio of packaging to food. I had to stop using the service out of packaging shame

* The produce was often not that good because it needs to withstand transport and storage. The tomatoes were faint pink and could have probably made it through a baseball game without a lot of damage

* It made me try recipes and ingredients that I wasn't used to, which I enjoyed. I feel like it's a kind of Guitar Hero for cooking.

My understanding is that Gobble is taking this stuff one step further, by
doing the prep work. I'll be interested to see how they address the problem of
having stuff be freshly prepared and transportable/storable at the same time.

This stuff gets marketed at beginning cooks, which seems unwise. If you're
just getting started, fancy restaurant meals are not the way to go. Make an
omelette or two.

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
Omelets are actually hard for a non experienced cook since it is SOOOO easy to
overcook eggs and omelets specifically require a bit of intuition (at least
for me).

~~~
tptacek
The big problem I had with omelets was egg-to-pan ratio; all the timing
problems I had went away when I bought a small nonstick pan just for eggs.
Three beaten eggs to one pan, fold when the edges look dry, reasonably
bulletproof.

Using my original (larger) pan, the eggs cooked through so quickly that I had
a very narrow window to hit.

I think the most important bit of advice on this thread though is: plan to
throw a couple away. Eggs are very cheap. An easy way to get hung up cooking
is to assume you only get one shot.

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
That's exactly what I meant by intuition! Once you've done successful omelets
you just know the proper egg/pan ratio that works for you without even
consciously thinking about it.

------
charlie_vill
Read this and reminded me of Michal's Medium post-
[https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-
fr...](https://medium.com/@michalbohanes/seven-lessons-i-learned-from-the-
failure-of-my-first-startup-dinnr-c166d1cfb8b8)

~~~
personZ
Fantastic read. Thank you.

------
droob
Do you love packaging? Do you hate the two minutes it takes to cut things more
than you like your money?

------
audiodude
For 12 bucks a person, I'm sorry, I'm going to the local taqueria, getting my
burrito cooked for me, and saving 4 bucks. Forget cooking.

~~~
wmeredith
This was my first thought, and it's always my first thought when I read about
meal delivery. For $24 my wife and I can go 5 minutes from our house and get
good Mexican, Thai or Chinese (and serviceable Italian) made for us and
brought to a table, and we get to walk away from the mess.

~~~
buckbova
This service isn't for you. I can see a market for seemingly fresh healthy
ingredients for a well portioned meal shipped to the customer's doorstep to be
cooked up in 10 minutes on demand during the week.

I can cook a microwave burrito or a ramen package if I chose to much quicker
and considerably cheaper than you can get a burrito or chinese takeout. This
doesn't mean taquerias are a ridiculous concept.

------
pbreit
Sort of a neat service but at $12/meal, a bit on the high side. And amazingly
inefficient with respect to packaging & delivery.

It seems that what people might want are 1) simple guide to what basics I
should have in the kitchen (spices, oils, etc) and 2) simple recipes where I
buy the chicken/fish/veggies fresh. Probably not a fundable idea and likely
already exists (although I haven't quite seen it).

~~~
techbubble
My wife's fledgling startup does something like this -- she makes meal kits
with all dry ingredients and instructions that are designed to encourage
experimentation with recipes. Her initial set is Indian cuisine, but she is
working on other cuisines as well
[http://recipesack.com](http://recipesack.com)

(I know I risk being down-voted, but this seems relevant.)

------
cbhl
The one thing that drives me nuts about these kits is that they're all
designed for two people or more. I live alone. Am I forever destined to eat TV
dinners to feed myself? Am I supposed to eat out, because it's cheaper than
mailing the box? :/

~~~
tptacek
Buy deli cups, make braise dishes, deli cup the leftovers, have amazing
lunches for a week. You can vary the carb and veg with each serving and get a
variety of different meals out of a single low-effort evening at the oven:
over pasta, as a sandwich, in an omelet, as a potato hash, saucing chicken
breasts.

A great thing about braises is that they're bulletproof. Almost the only thing
you can do to mess them up is to pull them too early. 4-6 hours in a slow
oven. Done when you bother to check and the meat pulls easily with a fork. We
do carbonnade overnight.

No knife skills required.

... not that I'm recommending the kit. Don't do that, if only because it'll
drive you to try to cook fussy stuff.

------
Karunamon
Am I the only one who finds it deceptive when companies offer something for
"free" with a shipping charge attached?

Free means $0, not $0 + $n.

~~~
tehwebguy
I didn't see anything about shipping or free in that article

~~~
Karunamon
The comments section in the article has a rep from the company handing out a
promo link.

------
Someone1234
> It costs $11.95 per person per meal

So if you liken it to getting take-out, that isn't that crazy, maybe a little
high. They also seem to have a lot of variety, and might help people segway
into doing their own cooking.

I can see the value in it. If you compare it to buying the raw ingredients
yourself and then cooking them, yes, it is expensive. If you compare it to
take-out (which is a convenience commodity, like this) it is within the
ballpark (depends which takeout).

Also locally to me there isn't much selection of healthy take-out. I mean if
you want a burger then you have tons of selection. You might even be able to
find a solid salad. But beyond that? Meh.

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
Most places I get takeout are just normal sit down places, not labeled as
takeout joints.

------
gatsby
It'll be interesting to see how food delivery plays out over the next few
years.

From a quick Crunchbase & YC search, I see Instacart, Sprig, Chefday,
Munchery, Plated, PlateJoy, Spoonrocket, Postmates, Goldbely, Doordash, Plate,
Zerocater, Delivery. com, Orderup, Tasteio, Zesty, Ezcater, Table Runner, and
Gobble.

I think most of these players serve similar geographies, and while they all
have their own unique spin (which usually involves speed of delivery, pricing,
or ingredients vs. already cooked), that seems like a lot of competition in an
industry with tiny margins.

------
dreamweapon
Just goes to show: the more The Current Bubble continues to purr and hum
along, the more gimmicky-er, patently implausible (business-wise) & just plain
_wasteful_ the business models become.

------
drcode
It seems like a much better idea for 99% of people is:

    
    
        1. Learn three or four fast single-pan recipes so that you can do them without this hand-holding.
        2. Eat more things out of cans, for days you want variety beyond your standard pan dishes- Just because it's in a can does NOT mean it's unhealthy, if you choose the right cans.
        3. Take the money you saved in steps #1 and #2 and use it to eat meals prepared by a real chef in a real restaurant, with real fresh ingredients.

~~~
jimmaswell
For cans, how do you feel about the BPA concern

~~~
roywiggins
Some fancier canned food now has "BPA free!" labels if you're worried about
it.

[http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-
food-...](http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-brands/)

------
adamb
Working nonstop at my computer has always made eating 3 meals a day tough for
me[1]. Even with OrderAhead and DoorDash, nearby restaurants get played out
fast.

I first tried Gobble when I saw a trial card over at Zombie Runner on
California Ave. Back then, Gobble delivered fully cooked dinners at 7pm on
weekday nights. I used Gobble about 3 nights a week for a few months. Dinner
went from something I had to figure out, to the highlight of my evening. We'd
get to eat something new and delicious a few times a week without playing out
local restaurants or the handful of dishes that we'd normally cook. Gobble
actually improved my relationship with my girlfriend.

At the time, my primary complaint was that I had to reheat the food and eat
out of a takeout container.

About a month ago, Gobble switched to delivering these meal kits. Having just
met Ooshma in person, I (naturally) gave her a really hard time about this.
Cooking takes too long and I have other things to do.

There were fewer choices than before, I needed to wash a pan (sometimes two,
if pasta was involved), and I needed to actually get off my computer to help
make dinner happen.

That was 15 meals ago.

I still think about the first Gobble dinner kit I made in back August. I
actually woke up the next morning thinking about how good perfectly the fresh
mozzarella balanced the spicy kick of the chili flakes.

Dinner-Kits Gobble is the best Gobble yet. Now I actually eat dinner like a
real person. Sometimes dinner takes a little longer than 10 minutes to
prepare, end to end, and sometimes it needs more than one pan, but it ends up
tasting so good that I feel stupid complaining about either of those things.

Out of 15 meals, about 8 of them have been wish-there-were-more-leftovers-
amazing about 5 of them were good enough order again, and a couple were just
ok. All of them were worth way more than the $12 and ~10 minutes of effort.

I have never had a problem with Gobble that a message to Ooshma didn't fix.

Yesterday I got an email from Gobble with 3 invites for 100% free boxes. I've
got two left. I think you still need to sign up to use it, but I'm pretty sure
you can cancel immediately. If you want one of the invites, first come, first
served.

[1] Unless a double espresso and a nice piece of bread counts as a meal.

~~~
Swizec
I cook up to three times a day and eat five meals every day. My schedule
literally revolves around food. And yes, I work nonstop at my computer all
day.

Therefore I'd love to take you up on the Gobble invite offer. I _need_ to try
this. -> swizec@swizec.com

~~~
adamb
Amen. Will send later today.

------
divya
i ordered these meals last week; the quality was better than any meal service
i've tried, including fully cooked (micrawave/oven reheat) meals. The problem
with other meal services is that when meat and fish are pre-cooked and then
re-heated in a microwave, they get rubbery; Gobble solves this problem by
doing everything EXCEPT the actually cooking. People on this thread say that
the prep work is part of the joy of cooking; to them, I say that Gobble is not
for you. Gobble is for people that want to eat delicious, fresh-tasting meals,
but on the time-line/convenience of take-out. Price-point is also similar to
take-out. Gobble is not intended to be an alternative to home-cooking, it's an
alternative for take-out. And for that purpose, it's awesome. One suggestion
to the Gobble team: list ingredients, especially allergens (on the website as
well as in the package). We had to call every night to find out whether each
dish contained egg, because we have a severe allergy in the family.

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
I don't think prep work is part of the joy of cooking and I still don't see
the point of this. Why does takeout need an alternative?

This is more expensive or just as expensive than takeout.

It has all the downsides of home cooking with ZERO of the upsides

So as far as I can see they are making takeout more expensive and less
convenient.

~~~
jayzee
So I tried it and here is the upside compared to takeout:

\- It tastes better. There IS a dramatic difference in the taste when
something is served hot straight from the pan as opposed to something that had
been cooked 45 minutes ago and has been winding its way towards you in a brown
bag

\- You can control ingredients like butter/oil/spice etc. You can add/remove
and customize it to your taste.

\- It is fun. You can cook something tasty and unique and interesting and
learn how to cook new dishes.

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
You can't _really_ customize. You can customize at an extremely superficial
level unless you go to the store and buy your own ingredients and are ok with
throwing out the ingredients they sent you that you don't like. Which
completely defeats the purpose. You can customize takeout the same amount,
perhaps even more "hold the onions" "light on the spice" "sub beans for beef"
"sub onions for mushrooms" I do it ALL THE TIME.

Perhaps because to me if I am going to cook something, I'm going to cook
something that is to my tastes as well as how much cooking as I'm feeling like
doing today. I see recipes as suggestions more than anything.

I also don't like my food hot. It tastes much much better when you let it sit
for 10 minutes or so.

------
computerjunkie
Here is my take on all these pre - made food services.

I love cooking, but I'm not great at it yet and probably never will be a
master chef. Over the year, I have learned (the hard way sometimes)
ingredients that work well together and one that don't. The whole experience
of going to the supermarket, preparing food and cooking it at is somewhat
therapeutic really. The best part is when it works out so well you feel
satisfied...something like programming and you get it to work, bug free.

I'm sure we here have heard the of the phrase "Cooking is like programming",
it really is in a way.

But I guess we live in an age where people think its a chore. Cooking is a
craft, just like every other skill. Take some time out and learn the basics of
cooking and you will be fine.

------
dominotw
I tried plated for a while. It was super expensive and came with insane amount
of packaging. Like 1 onion was carefully packed in 5 layers of packaging. It
was just absurd and silly.

~~~
idlewords
My favorite was a Blue Apron recipe that called for a "farm fresh egg", which
came in a cardboard box, which had a plastic egg tray inside, with a single
(cracked) egg in it.

I'm fine having sorrel or scallops pre-packaged for me, but getting a triple-
boxed egg or an onion wrapped in bubble tape just felt sad.

~~~
dllthomas
It seems like ideally you could link up your pantry management app (and your
menu planning, to know what's spoken for) and they could just send you the
difference.

~~~
idlewords
I'd be happier with the low-tech solution of assuming you're not some feral
monster who doesn't have eggs or flour in the house.

Oddly, the one thing they don't provide for you is cooking oil. Who are these
high-income loners living in a bare apartment with just a single bottle of
olive oil?

~~~
dllthomas
You've never run out of eggs? Certainly I'd be happy _enough_ with that
approach, but not _happier_ I think. Particularly if the pantry management
stuff itself provided value.

~~~
tptacek
If you acquire eggs for your cooking by waiting for them to arrive
individually wrapped in recipe kits, you're basically always out of eggs.

Just keep a dozen eggs in your fridge all the time.

~~~
dllthomas
I do keep eggs in my fridge; that doesn't mean I never run out (my egg use is
bursty). Whether that's relevant probably depends much on the time frame these
kits are acquired over.

------
bambax
I don't quite get the point of all these services; one of the joys of cooking
is shopping for fresh ingredients, choosing them, prepping them.

Putting pre-cut ingredients in a pan for a specified amount of time is not
"cooking".

You can get pretty good / excellent meals that have been separately cooked
sous-vide in a factory, that you simply reheat in a microwave -- they're much
faster, much cheaper, probably better tasting than these pretend-cook meals
(and just as healthy).

~~~
cylinder
So basically this is a takeaway restaurant where you just heat the food
yourself.

Give me a break, people. You are not busy, you are just wasting your time
being distracted by your phone! It's about priorities.

~~~
Karunamon
Businesses everywhere would pay for your telepathic abilities to know what
people you've never met are using their time on ;)

------
edmack
We tried the Shitake Miso meal last night, it was tasty and fun to make. We
work long hours, so it was a nice treat to cook without the time sink of
shopping and prepping.

~~~
ooshma
I made that meal myself last night! It's one of my personal favorites. It's
good to hear you found the recipe fun and quick. If you have any other
questions or suggestions for me personally, don't hesitate to reach out at
ooshma@gobble.com. Perhaps a favorite dish that you want to see on the menu
soon? :)

------
palidanx
I wonder if it is better for these food start-ups to perhaps sell a food
starter package? Something like all of the woks, knives, and small amounts of
spices you would need for all recipes. But then, I'm not sure exactly how they
would make money after that.

~~~
bluedino
Check out the 'minimum viable kitchen'
[http://priceonomics.com/cookware/](http://priceonomics.com/cookware/)

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
Really? That is a useless (to me) article that contains a whole bunch of
expensive stuff you don't need.

Your kitchen isn't my kitchen. The stuff I find important for my needs isn't
the stuff you find important for your needs.

No, you don't have to spend almost $30 on a damn strainer!

I'm a big fan of only buying the stuff you actually need when you need it, not
the stuff you might need in the future because someone else told you you need
it. If you find yourself needing a blender, buy one. If you find the food you
like to cook doesn't require one, don't buy one.

This guy says get a stand mixer and not a slow cooker! WHOA THERE! I use a
slow cooker all the time and never once in my life did I think about getting a
stand mixer. The other thing is I (and probably 90% of everyone else I know)
don't have room for a stand mixer. I don't even know a single person who has
one due to their bulkiness and expense.

And a kitchen scale because "Professional chefs measure many things by weight
rather than volume since ingredient density can vary?" Um, well I mostly
guesstimate my ingredients and my food tastes just as good. I even guesstimate
some things when baking which people say will RUIN YOUR CAKE but I never had a
problem with it. I also have never used a wooden spoon in my kitchen.

------
andrewhyde
Also note [http://forage.co](http://forage.co) which is more of recreating the
famous restaurant dishes (they do all the lengthy prep and then ship it to you
to do the final prep).

------
mmanfrin
[https://gobble.com/signup](https://gobble.com/signup) \-- Page says 'select 3
kits', shows only 2, does not allow continuing unless 3 are selected.

~~~
ooshma
We're selling out so quickly! More kits and a new menu will be live in 5
minutes.

------
chaostheory
What's interesting is that I think Amazon Fresh does this as well.

------
mikeryan
On first scan I read that as Google instead of Gobble and though WTF Google?!?

anyway. carry on.

