Fresh Ingredients Delivered: HelloFresh Box Q&A
HelloFresh is on a mission to bring the joy of cooking to your doorstep. Each week you will have fresh, regional (whenever possible) ingredients delivered that can quickly be turned into healthy meals for your family with the included recipes and step-by-step photo directions. The company caters to both meat-eaters and vegetarians with their Classic and Veggie box options. The company’s founder Hamish Shephard has stopped by to tell us a bit about this new venture.
What made you decide to start a subscription box service?
HelloFresh’s mission is to make cooking healthy fresh meals as easy as possible for busy people.
How did you choose your subscription niche?
Everyone aspires to cook and eat a healthy home-cooked meal, but not everyone has the time or confidence. We are here to help. HelloFresh is all about matching the joys of everyday cooking with the speed of everyday life.
Do you work out of your home or an offsite location?
We have our office in New York and then our kitchens are in New Jersey.
Do you handle all of your business operations yourself or have employees?
We have an amazing team of chefs, marketers, customer care and operations all making sure everyone receives the most delicious fresh meals possible.
How do you source the products that will be included each month?
We have a superb array of family-run purveyors who we work with every week to secure the freshest most seasonal produce for our boxes.
What marketing avenues did you use to get the word out? Any memorable successes or failures?
Our best channel is the word of mouth and referral of our wonderful existing HelloFresh family. We have had some fantastic PR successes having been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Martha Stewart Living, Esquire, Forbes and many more!
What was your biggest surprise – good or bad – with your new business?
The amazing emails we receive from customers, especially moms, who sing our praises and whose lives we have made that little bit easier.
Where do you see your business five years from now? Any changes in the works?
We would like HelloFresh to be a household name and the HelloFresh cooking revolution to have spread across the country!
About the HelloFresh Subscription
Each week you can choose 3 of the 5 available recipes (currently Veggie boxes only offer 3 recipes per week). The HelloFresh team then does the shopping, measuring and packaging of high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients. These items are then shipped to your doorstep arriving on Wednesday or Thursday depending on your delivery area. HelloFresh is going to assume that you have some staples on hand; salt, pepper, olive oil, sugar, butter.
Recipes typically require 30 minutes or less to prepare and no special equipment is needed. Recent recipes have included Duck a l’orange salad, roasted salmon with baby new potatoes and Himalayan salt, and herb garlic beef with watercress, peanuts and baby carrots.
The subscriptions average out to $10-$11 per serving. Two, four and six person subscriptions are available. The two-person Classic (meat & fish) box is $69 per week. The two-person Veggie box is $59 per week. Boxes include everything you need to make the included recipes; meat (if selected), vegetables, pastas, cheeses, herbs and spices.
While this may seem like an expensive subscription, you have to remember it is being marketed as a healthy, affordable alternative to ordering in or eating out. Ten bucks per person is probably less than what you pay for an evening meal at most national restaurant chains. And with HelloFresh you know not only what is going into your meal but where it came from, in most cases locally.
I like what this subscription stands for and wish it was available in my area to try for myself. I not only love to cook, but I also love supporting our local farmers and small business owners. And if it is convenient, even better!
Visit the website to see if HelloFresh is currently available in your area. Order now and use the following code to receive $15 off: aHelloTaste. Valid until 30th September.
