Signed, sealed, delivered: lockdown has fuelled a subscription boom
Weekly meal kits have spiced up dinner times – and he’s not the only one getting edible goodies by post
Before lockdown, my repertoire of home-cooked meals could be counted on one hand: bolognese, carbonara, shepherd’s pie, oven chips, scrambled eggs, repeated ad nauseam. That’s all changed, however, since I became one of a growing number of Britons signed up to a food subscription box.
Every Tuesday, HelloFresh sends me five meals’ worth of ingredients to serve two, with recipes. Last night it was a sausage mushroom risotto; the evening before, a honeyed pork steak with couscous. To accomplished cooks, these may sound basic, but for me they’re a real sea-change. I’m eating more vegetables than ever. I’ve learnt how to cook rice and make burgers (and how to season properly), and for the first time in my adult life I find I’m actually excited about making dinner – and about receiving all the elements for it by post.
Subscription services are nothing new. Nowadays we can source everything from television box sets to bespoke tailored outfits via online clubs. According to research from Barclaycard, almost two thirds – 65 per cent – of UK households are signed up to regular subscription services. And after months in which (most of) the nation on was cooped up at home, those numbers are rising. The cash we splash on subscription platforms atforms increased by just shy hy of 40 per cent in the year up p to July.
From groceries s ( Waitrose estimates 77 7 per cent of people do o at least half of their eir food shopping via the web) to fullllblown meal kits by post, it’s no surprise se that shoppers seek ek convenience onnline. HelloFresh says ays it has seen orders ers more than double uble since lockdown wn began, while Mind- nd
ful Chef, which focuses on healthy dishes, saw demand rise by a whopping 452 per cent. Gousto, endorsed by Joe Wicks, sold more recipe boxes in the first six months of this year than the whole of 2019.
There are options for all appetites – and ages. Mamamade, which sends organic baby food (sweet potato and cinnamon porridge; chickpea panisse) through the post, has seen a 700 per cent increase in subscribers since March. “Modern parents [are] looking for a service to help share the load,” says its founder, Sophie Baron. When many people have been isolated and unable to shop in person, this has never been more crucial. Meal-box services tap into other key issues of 21s 21st-century eating, helping to con control portion sizes and reduce fo food waste, while eliminating de decision fatigue. Unlike gym mem memberships, subscriptions can be pau paused or cancelled at will. What’s m more, these club-style set-u set-ups have become a means of deepening specific interests, whether it’s for single origin coffee or farmhouse cheese. Lost Sheep Coffee’s sign-ups (for beans, grinds and pods in environmentally friendly wrapping) have risen by 26 per cent on average every month since lockdown began (“It’s one less thing for our customers to
think about in these unprecedented times; they’ll never run out of their favourite coffee”, says founder Stuart Wilson), and meat lovers have flocked to try Farmison & Co’s Eat Better Meat boxes, gaining it 30,000 new customers since March. Keen cake makers have caused BakedIn’s monthly subscriber count to leap by 1,200 per cent over the same period. All dispense tasting notes, or cooking inspiration, or (in the case of BakedIn) recipes approved by Michel Roux, in deliveries that are delicious, yes, but also enlightening – empowering, even.
Take The Craft Gin Club, which sends out a bottle of gin, chosen by experts, to its subscribers every month, along with a magazine whose pages geekily cover everything from niche botanicals to how to build the best kind of still. The club has seen a 70 per cent increase in members in the past 12 months, with 30,000 joining between March and June. “Elevating the athome drinking experience has been our mission from day one, and it’s never resonated more with consumers,” says co-founder John Hulme.
For new entrepreneurs, the subscription model has become a quick means of generating an engaged customer base during challenging times. “It’s a service that every brand has to consider nowadays,” says Johnny Johnson, founder of the alcohol-free lager brand UNLTD, which set up its subscriptions only last month. “As a startup, it gives fans the opportunity to come along with us on our journey.”