Dinner on Your Doorstep: Convenience drives grocery change

It’s Thursday morning and a large box sits on the front doorstep. Inside, a couple of organic lemons and a head of Boston Bib lettuce are nestled next to loaf of multigrain bread, a wedge of honey almond chevre goat cheese and a pound of beef stew meat.

Ready made for any size family, those are just a handful of ingredients in this week’s Farm 2 Counter Inc. grocery delivery. It’s like a trip to the farmers market without leaving the house.

The Springfield-based company is the brainchild of former yacht chef Paul Allen, who wanted to connect people with their food – and their farmers – through the growing trend of boxed meal delivery services. The week’s ingredients are from the likes of Fassnight Creek Farms and Millsap Farms in the Queen City, Edgewood Creamery in Purdy and Circle B Ranch in Seymour.

“The main goal was to provide people a direct link to their food,” Allen said. “Did you know the average product travels more than 1,600 miles before it reaches your house? Think of the waste involved in that.”

In the fast-paced, digital life of Americans with short attention spans – convenience is key. Quick and easy applies to everything from mobile check deposits to scheduling an Uber and the task of grocery shopping is mirroring that change in habits. For many, gone are the days of making a grocery list and physically heading to the store. Instead, Americans get their food in new and innovative ways. Grocery delivery through an app and boxed meal services have become a staple in many households.

National impact
In 2014, U.S. consumers, businesses and government entities spent $1.46 trillion on food and beverages in grocery stores and other retailers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A Midwest player in the grocery market, Springfield’s Hy-Vee launched its Aisles Online grocery delivery service 18 months ago and has seen overwhelming growth. Store director Doug Mezger said he’s hired 20 people since launching just to keep up with demand.

“Springfield is one of the busiest locations [for online orders] in the entire chain,” Mezger said, declining to disclose specific delivery numbers.

Available at all 245 Hy-Vee stores, the service allows customers to shop online. Groceries can then be delivered to certain ZIP codes or picked up in store.

“Part of our popularity is because we are only one store in a large city,” he said. “But it’s also the convenience. We want to continue to adapt to today’s lifestyle. It’s something the boomers have found they love and something millennials expect.”

Locally, Price Cutter also offers delivery from select stores, including its new organic-focused store, Ruby’s Market.

Cooks looking for even more convenience have turned to boxed meal services. Meal kits are a $1 billion industry in the United States and experts say the services are poised for more growth.

According to a recent study by food industry analyst Technomic Inc., under the current rate of adoption, the national meal kit market could grow by as much as $5 billion over the next decade. Millions of cardboard boxes arrive on doorsteps every week with exact potions of everything needed to cook dinner – from a clove of garlic and a mini jar of jam to a pound of ground pork and a pair of brioche buns. In under an hour, just about any level cook could produce an Instagram-worthy meal.

“It takes the thinking out of the equation,” said Jeff Moore, director of Springfield’s new Ruby’s Market, which offers boxed meals for sale in store, complete with everything from chicken to spices. “People want convenience and this is convenience in a box.”

Though Ruby’s meals aren’t delivered, Moore said in the store’s first week they’ve already been popular.

“Just yesterday, a lady came in and bought eight at once,” he said.

Market research firm Packaged Facts estimates the U.S. meal kit delivery services market generated approximately $1.5 billion in sales in 2016 across more than 150 well known names, such as Plated and Hello Fresh.

The biggest among them – Blue Apron – says it delivers 8 million meals a month and Packaged Facts reports the New York City-based company has raised $193 million in venture capital so far.

100 percent local
Services such as Blue Apron source ingredients nationwide. While that package of pork may be born, raised and harvested in the United States, chances are it isn’t from the Show-Me State. That’s part of what Allen says sets Farm 2 Counter apart.

“We work with 27 different farmers to source foods and everything comes from this area,” he said. “Go on our website right now and click on the apple in your box. You can see exactly what farm it was grown at.”

Allen and crew also deliver to local restaurants, such as Farmer’s Gastropub, Gilardi’s and Metropolitan Farmer.

Farm 2 Counter’s other unique factor: Boxed ingredients are more than just one specific meal.

“Our boxes are for people who know how to cook,” Allen said. “Once you graduate from Blue Apron, you come to us.”

A Kimberling City native, Allen originally launched Farm 2 Counter in and around the Branson area, but now he and his four-person crew crisscross the Ozarks delivering roughly 100 boxes a week between Strafford and the Arkansas state line. All boxes are packaged at Farm 2 Counter’s Commercial Street warehouse, and the company encourages customers to reduce their carbon footprint by reusing boxes and ice packs.

“It used to be just me doing the whole route by 8 p.m.,” he said, adding with four other drivers the company delivers by 4 p.m. each Thursday. He hopes to double or triple deliveries in the next two years. “We just picked up Rogersville and we are growing each month.”

Allen said Farm 2 Counter gets emails from people requesting delivery services just about every week. Once he gets about 20 in one area, he looks into the cost. Marshfield, for example, currently sits at 12 requests.

“[Twenty] is about the tipping point to make it profitable, but it all depends on the distance,” Allen said, declining to disclose company revenues.

Are boxed meal services and the like a fad, a bubble destined to burst as the newness wears off? Allen doesn’t see it that way.

“You can get everything delivered, even razor blades,” he said. “Instead, I see them becoming woven into the fabric of our lives. They’ll become commonplace because they aren’t a trend, they’ve become necessary.”

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