Meal kits: a US$1 bn market disruptor

A niche market has started disrupting food consumption norms, according to a new research in the US.

The global “meal kit” market has topped $1 billion and is positioned to change the way consumers think about food at home, according to food industry research company Technomic, in itsUnderstanding Fresh Food Subscription study.

Meal kits are subscription services where a company supplies customers with a daily or weekly delivery of prepared meals ready to heat and mix at home. Targeted especially at singles and shift workers, it represents an entirely new retail category for online suppliers, both web and app based.

The fresh food subscription market (meal kits) is defined as a service designed to deliver fresh, pre-measured ingredients to consumers’ homes.

“This market initially gained traction overseas, but today the US represents nearly 40 per cent of the global market,” says Technomic principal Erik Thoresen. “We project the fresh food subscription market will grow to a multi-billion-dollar market over the next five years in the US alone.”

As well as measuring and predicting the economic health of the industry, the study analyses trends and global opportunities. It predicts that worldwide revenues from fresh food subscriptions will top $10 billion by 2020, with the US market alone growing tenfold over the next five years. The research program involved 4500 consumers from Australia, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK and the US.