

SpoonRocket (YC S13) Delivers Healthy Gourmet Meals To Users For Just $6 Each - ramanujam
http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/09/spoonrocket/

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pkfrank
I think this is a great idea. I would imagine that attacking one vertical
would be another way to satisfy low-cost, high-quality healthy meals on a
smaller scale. One attempt I've seen recently focuses on providing "paleo
meals" to the CrossFit community. It's called KettleBellKitchen.com, and I
have no affiliation.

* Serving a very fanatical, loyal audience, already comfortable spending money on their health ("For Crossfitters, by Crossfitters")

* Smart distribution model to provide a refrigerator at local Crossfit gym (immediately taps into that highly-engaged population)

* Provides true value-proposition in reasonably-priced, paleo meals (otherwise a pain to make / find)

In all, it satisfies a huge demand at a reasonable price in a market that is
sure to embrace it

I'd say it's important to have very-strong B2B tactics and familiarity to
navigate negotiations with Crossfit Gym owners. Build the correct team (folks
who have previously managed prepared-food operations at grocery chains,
catering companies, etc - bias towards those with health food angle). Buy raw
ingredients in bulk; cook and assemble; receive payment online; deliver to
Crossfit gym where they're picked up in a convenient fashion. Seems doable.

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alxbrun
I like their idea and wish them good luck. But I'm tired to read all these
/\w+ fundamentally change the way we think about \w+/

"SpoonRocket was built to fundamentally change the way we think about food.".
I'm sorry, but adjusting parameters like delivery time or price or number of
choices in the menu does not "fundamentally change the way" I think about
food.

That being said, that's a great business idea and I'm looking forward to
trying them!

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yoshyosh
Think about a world where this becomes the standard. Not having to go to a
grocery store, not having to cook, actually having healthy meals (in 10
minutes or less). You can't even shop or cook in that amount of time.

~~~
valueprop
But then, everybody you know in the city will share the same food photos every
day :)

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lpolovets
This looks great. Since SpoonRocket is in Berkeley, I wonder if this idea was
inspired by the Cheeseboard, which is a great pizza place in that city
([http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/pizza/](http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/pizza/)).
The Cheeseboard has a pizza flavor of the day, and they just make that single
pizza flavor until they close (or run out of ingredients). Because the
operation is optimized to deliver a single product, it's very efficient and
(I'm guessing) cost effective. Seems like a great business model.

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egonschiele
I'm pretty excited about this, but I'd like to see more details on what makes
each meal healthy. I've tried a lot of "healthy" meals before and the simple
fact is it's hard to make something nutritious taste as good as unhealthy
food...butter, salt and sugar make food taste better, it's as simple as that.
So the trend I see is:

Make healthy food -> no one buys it because it doesn't taste as good -> make
it unhealthy.

There has to be a market for people like me, who choose healthy over
tasty...cater to us, please!

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pronesmk
I saw this story on HN about 15 mins ago and I'm now eating my Butternut
Risotto (I work in Emeryville). It tastes great, it's about as expensive as
Subway (the cheapest thing near me) and I did get it in about 10 mins. The
presentation wasn't the best but I'll definitely be ordering again. Small
suggestion: It would be great to get some basic nutritional info on each meal.

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josephjrobison
I want this so much, as I'm sure everyone does. Sometimes food preparation is
therapeutic, and if getting food faster is going to make us sit in the office
more and stare at the screen longer, well that's more unhealthy. But with the
right balance, this is good news and I would surely subscribe right away when
it comes to my neighborhood.

~~~
johnrob
I feel no guilt. Buying food is expensive and preparing it requires a lot of
labor (not just cooking, but cleaning too). This could be a huge time saver
for busy folks - and many of them might use the savings on sleep instead of
work.

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smokey_the_bear
This is awesome and perfect for me, and I totally understand launch issues and
will definitely try them again either way. But could someone from SpoonRocket
let me know if they think it will be possible to order lunch from them today?
I have been trying for half an hour or so and I am quite hungry.

~~~
smokey_the_bear
Site seems to work again now, and my order should arrive in 4 minutes. If
anyone else wants to try.

~~~
smokey_the_bear
... and it's here and delicious.

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NDizzle
Best of luck to you guys. Dollars are hard to find for healthy food startups
unless, of course, you're part of the correct old boys club.

Me, not being a part of that club, found it very hard to do healthy food
delivery in Berkeley/Emeryville/Oakland.

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RolfRolles
Unfortunately, the site does not behave gracefully under heavy traffic.
Berkeley resident here, tried to order one of each, but the "place order" page
just times out and I am not sure if my order was actually placed, or if I
should try again.

~~~
pronesmk
I got a flurry of automated calls and emails once my order went through, I
would expect if you have yet to receive a call then your order didn't go
through.

~~~
RolfRolles
I've tried literally about a dozen times at this point. Only once did I get
some sort of response from the server; now clicking "place order" simply does
nothing. Too bad; they got all of this publicity at the expense of their
target audience not being able to use the service. I hope everyone who was
interested remembers to try again tomorrow.

Edit: Alright, I finally succeeded. It took less than three minutes to arrive
once my order was placed!

The packaged meal:
[http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#2](http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#2)
Unwrapped:
[http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#0](http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#0)

"Carnitas Enchiladas $6.00 Braised Pork with Red Onion and White Cheddar
Wrapped in White Corn Tortillas Baked in Red Chile Sauce, Served with Black
Beans and Spanish Rice"

What it looks like:
[http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#1](http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#1)

What it tastes like: Rice: very tasty. Beans: the opposite of tasty; this is
actually un-appetizing, and if I was the type to waste food, I would not
continue eating it. Enchiladas: doesn't taste bad, but is also not very
flavorful.

"Butternut Risotto $6.00 Arborio Rice with Tart Apple, Butternut Squash, Sweet
Onion on a Bed of Baby Spinach, with Roasted Cauliflower, and Braised Fennel"

What it looks like:
[http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#3](http://imgur.com/JHrZbTd,WDG574u,2z9KKxn,350v3fd#3)

What it tastes like: Risotto: tastes mushy, kind of like paste. Caulliflower:
doesn't taste bad, but is also not very exciting. Bed of baby spinach: tastes
like poison. I don't know how to describe it better, but it tastes terrible.

I guess this is a decent meal for $6.00. It's certainly better than fast food.
I have a hard time calling it "gourmet" and I'm not sure if I would order it
again. (Living in Berkeley, I am spoiled on the local food, which can be
properly considered "gourmet").

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jmcgough
Tried out the site... the registration flow is a little needlessly confusing.

I hope this comes to SF - I and a lot of others eat at food trucks or
restaurants 1-2 times a day just because we don't feel like we have the time.

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ctdonath
Suggestion: for an extra $1-2 include a simple but satiating shelf-stable
breakfast &/| lunch, something like two packets of oatmeal and a couple "meal
replacement" (ex.: Cliff) bars.

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BadCookie
The article doesn't mention it, but it looks like their intent is to charge a
$40 per year subscription fee for the service. The site is down, though, so
I'm having trouble verifying that.

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felixchan
Add low carb and I'll be you customer for life!

