Sales are soaring of high-end cook-at-home dinner boxes that recreate a restaurant experience
It is expensive, it is niche, and the market seems crowded. Yet the meal-kit delivery dinner has become one of Britain’s biggest consumer success stories of the year. Who would fork out an average of £20 for a two-person meal they cook themselves? In a pandemic, it turns out customers have spent hundreds of millions of pounds doing just that.
Last week, Nestlé beat off competition from Waitrose to acquire a major stake in health-food-box company Mindful Chef, while rival Gousto secured a £25m investment, pushing it into “unicorn” status with a valuation in excess of £1bn. Hello Fresh, the global market leader, branded “the world’s most ruthless food startup” by a trade magazine, has seen its customers double in 2020, while revenue jumped by 120% to £870m. The nation may be locked down, but food subscription services have lucked out.
