

Ask HN: Flexible meal subscriptions coming to Bay Area soon - vantran

Dear HN,<p>I and a few friends are going to launch a Flexible meal subscription service to help busy individuals and families save time and money from cooking or eating out.<p>We're working on getting quality chefs / restaurants on board. If you're in SF Bay Area and wants to be in for the beta, let me know.<p>Some upfront info: A few reasons why you might want this service
- If you can't cook or too busy to cook, we aim to be much more affordable than eating out
- No more stressing out over what to get for dinner.
- Stop eating the same thing all the time. We want people to experience different kind of food.
- Stay flexible. As long as the meals aren't already made, you can hold them for another day, in case you want to eat out whenever.<p>I owe you if you can give your thoughts. I'll buy you a drink if you're in SF ;)
1. Do you have any feedback (positive or negative) on the business concept?
2. Would you pay to subscribe to this service? How much per meal typically?
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rguzman
I'd suscribe to the service if a few things were right.

The price I'd pay depends on what the service is like.

I think it'd be hard for you to compete (for my business) with burritos from
the mission on price. For me to use this based on the price alone, I'd need <
$6 per meal.

However, I'd pay $10-15 if the meals were high quality and I'd get detailed
nutrition information about them automatically.

I'd also pay $10-15 if the service operated by asking letting me specify as
much or as little information about what meals i get when. For example, I'd
like to say "I want to eat fish twice a month" and On Dec 16, I'd like this
salad for lunch and that soup for dinner. (I realize this is very hard, that's
why I'd pay for it).

I'd be interested in trying out your beta and sharing my thoughts over coffee
(email's in the profile).

Another thought: I find that preparing my meals is not what bothers me, I like
to cook and I like to take breaks. However, I'd pay good money for a good
pantry-management system that also delivered the groceries.

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unohoo
I would suggest you to do a trial run asap with a few select folks. Again -
ASAP ! The reason why I stress on asap is because I used to know someone who
did something similar, albeit within the Indian community only. Ultimately, he
decided to end it since logistically, it turned out to be a nightmare -
especially with home delivery options.

Also, if you are actually getting the food from chefs/restaurants (who arent
employed by you), it will add additional hassles - what happens if the chef
falls sick ? what if one of the chef fails to deliver ? or fails to deliver in
a timely manner ? My guess would be that margins will be small - unless you
are directly employing the cooks / chefs.

Too much work for too little -- thats what my acquaintance said about his
experience.

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sz
1) Concept rocks; if you're in Chicago I'll sign up right now.

2) No more than $10, and only if it's remarkably good (healthy) food. Chipotle
is $7, relatively nutritious, and enough to keep me going for most of the day.
The only downside is the walk and lack of variety.

~~~
vantran
1) I knew it was a bad idea to move away from Chicago!

2) Yup, I went to Chipotle regularly while downtown. I think I ate there for
lunch like 3 times a week regularly for months. It's fine in the beginning,
but there's gotta be a way to get some variety into our diet.

~~~
rguzman
_1) I knew it was a bad idea to move away from Chicago!_

No way, man! I just moved from Chicago (and applied to excelerate, too). Where
in the bay area are you? Let's have coffee.

~~~
vantran
Sure thing. I'll shoot you an email ;)

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PBennett
I would most likely subscribe to a service like this. In fact, I was recently
working out a deal with my friend where I would pay her to go grocery shopping
every other week and cook for me twice a week. So, this is would be perfect.
Now, I would still want a few things out of the service:

1\. Healthy choices (nutritional info would be phenomenal, though I know it's
likely not going to happen with chefs).

2\. A way to filter out meals that contain certain ingredients. This is
important for people with allergies. Some dishes you can tell, but recipes
vary. I hate when I get secretly surprised by a dish was cooked with butter
(lactose intolerant).

3\. $10 - $12 per meal. When I go out for lunch, I usually try to stick to
$10. I could go for $15 for dinner.

4\. In Chicago. :P

I don't mind walking, I actually love getting out. I'm mostly concerned about
healthy eating.

Some things that might sway me, but aren't deal breakers:

1\. Vegetarian options. 2\. Variety of size portions. I hate that most
American restaurants give me way more food that I want. I feel bad for not
eating it and having to pay for it.

~~~
vantran
Allergies is certainly something we're preparing to deal with. Thanks for
confirming it :)

And I agree with your last point, will keep it in mind when I talk to the
chefs.

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gatsby
I'm not very familiar with meal subscriptions. Could you explain how they
work? Do you pick them up or have them delivered? Are they fresh or frozen?

Overall, the concept sounds very promising. Everyone has to eat three times a
day, and I'm sure there are plenty of people like myself who'd pay a premium
for a quality variety of meals without the time commitment of cooking or
eating out.

~~~
vantran
You can subscribe to as many chefs as you want. Since it's a weekly
subscription, you pay up front each week.

Here's an example:

My subscription to Chef 1: Monday: 1 meal - Wednesday: 1 meal - Friday: 2
meals

My subscription to Chef 2: Tuesday: 1 meal - Thursday: 1 meal

As you see, you can mix and match to get a great deal of variety. Currently
our system accommodates both pickups and deliveries, but it'll depend on the
chefs if he or she can deliver or not.

How much would you pay for this kind of service? We're working to keep prices
down. Tipping is also not expected, should be pretty affordable.

~~~
gatsby
I like the idea. As many others have already said, I think approx. $10-15 per
meal would be ideal.

Just a suggestion: I think you should really market this service to businesses
and office-crowds for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. My last office was in
an affluent area where the walkable lunch and dinner options were Subway and
20 or so high-end sit-down restaurants. Killing an hour and spending $40 on
lunch wasn't a viable option and Subway got old after about three weeks. I
often worked from 7am-9pm and would have gladly paid $30-40 per day to have a
breakfast, lunch, and dinner prepared and delivered to me to avoid the
monotony of Subway, the price of "creative French fusion" cafes, or the time-
commitment of a Steakhouse lunch - and I know I wasn't the only person in that
situation.

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thetylerhayes
Great concept. I used to do subscribe to a service like this in Minneapolis,
and just pick up the pre-made meals on my way home from work.

I just moved to SF, so I wouldn't subscribe to this right away as I'm still
mostly experimenting with different restaurants around the city. But if 3+
months from now I needed this service, absolutely I would subscribe.

I'd say $10-20/meal feels right. Unless you can justify/educate me why higher
price is better. Also, a discount for 4+ member families (or something along
those lines) might be a good marketing hook.

Once you have more to show, I'd be glad to comment and advise in any way you
think is helpful. The other comments on here have already stressed most of the
important, immediate things for you to address.

In the meantime, contact info is in my bio, feel free to hit me up if you
wanna grab a drink and chat.

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LLarrea
The price would have to be under $10 unless ordering a "premium" item, farmers
market ingredients, or other specialty foods. Portion sizes would have to be
clear and consistent. Nutritional information, as many have mentioned, would
be amazing.

I really do love the idea, I regularly spend over $7+ per meal and absolutely
never feel good about that because it's on unhealthy, processed food. With
your business, I could justify spending an additional $3 since a similar meal
at a restaurant would cost me my time and about $15-20.

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curt
Thought of launching something like this during grad school. There are a ton
of legal hurtles to go through which is why I passed. But good luck there
definitely is a market.

From the numbers I ran the lowest you can go cooking in-house is $9 per meal,
for outsourcing it'll likely be around $15.

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bdr
I'm guessing it would be too expensive if you were bringing me something every
day. I can eat the same dinner for a week, though. I'd sign up for this.

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mr_b
I would subscribe if 1\. Not very expensive. Something around $10 2\. Has good
vegetarian options.

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tt
I would pay $10 to $15 a meal.

