Any time any place anywhere
In the cash-rich, time-poor world of Commuter Land, the last thing on many office workers' minds at the end of a busy day is the supermarket, never mind a restaurant. Home meal replacement has been around for a while, of course, but the customer's tastes are becoming ever-more sophisticated. Enter the trendy meal kit.
Two companies are driving the concept - Leapingsalmon and Rocket. Both aim to satisfy the busy person's demand for good, fresh food that's designed to be fun as well as quick to prepare. Unlike more traditional ready meals, the customer has to cook the dish, but each pack (Leapingsalmon kits even come in a free cool bag), contains little pots with pre-measured ingredients and almost foolproof recipes.
Leapingsalmon was the first to market and describes itself as the sous chef for people with busy lives. It was set up by high-flying Cambridge graduate James Marshall, 36, who previously worked with Coca-Cola Hong Kong and Nestlé.
The company was launched online in 1999 and opened its first kiosk in London's Victoria station last year. Best sellers are its main meals for two, which cost about £15.90. Starters cost about £6.20, desserts £6.50 for two and a set menu £30.95 for two.
The cooking is done in three London kitchens, then transported to the kiosks dotted around the capital.
The menu changes weekly and includes dishes such as Polynesian Swordfish in Banana Leaves and Bonfire Chicken. Leapingsalmon now has kiosks in Victoria, Broadgate Circle, Paddington, Canary Wharf and London Bridge stations as well as Bluewater in Kent. Outlets at Charing Cross and Fenchurch Street stations are opening soon.
A year after Leapingsalmon launched, arch-rival Rocket hit the market and, in a more novel distribution deal, hooked up with Sodexho to supply its product directly to workers at office sites. "We're not competing with the caterer," says Rocket marketing manager Jackie Duff. "They see us as an added employee benefit, another service on site."
Rocket, owned by Unilever Ventures, is moving offices and kitchens to Battersea, where the food is prepared and delivered to sites every morning. The kits are then sold in the staff restaurants.
Following successful trials at UBS Warburg in the City, Rocket is currently on-site at five office locations in the South-east and is about to finalise a further three with Sodexho. They are primarily sites with high footfall and workers with high disposable income.
Rocket's head chef is Jenny Shaw, who previously worked at Nestlé and at one stage ran her own catering firm. As well as supplying offices, Rocket also has kiosks at Waterloo station. These have been joined by kiosks at Liverpool Street, Cannon Street, Euston and Wimbledon stations. Others at Clapham Junction and Victoria are opening soon.
Rocket charges about £11 for a meal for two, with desserts around £1.90 per portion. The menu changes weekly and includes the likes of Fragrant Thai Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff.
Leapingsalmon is at the premium end of the market, a bit pricier than Rocket, with recipes designed by chefs such as Stefano Cavallini (ex-the Halkin) and Philip Howard of the Square. Most meals contain some specialist ingredients, such as saffron or plantain leaves (not easy to find at Tesco Metro on a Thursday night) and are classed as easy, medium and hard to prepare. "But even hard isn't hard," says general manager Sarah Neath. The quickest meal takes just 15 minutes to prepare. "David Beckham likes to cook them for Victoria," she adds.
So who is buying? Mainly 25- to 45-year-olds who are health-conscious and reasonably affluent. Perhaps surprisingly, there are as many women as men. "At Liverpool Street, we get more men buying," Duff says, "but that merely reflects the greater number of men working in the City. At Wimbledon station it's 50/50."
Often it is women who are directing the men to buy, Neath says. "The idea is that we target commuters with a menu as they get off the train in the morning. They can look through it at the office, then pick the kit up on their way back. A man often takes a leaflet home or calls his wife from the office so she can choose." And if carrying the kit home is too much trouble, Leapingsalmon meal kits can be ordered online and delivered the same day in Central London or the next day nationwide.
Take-away facts
* Total sales of ready meals in the UK were valued at g2.9b (£2b) in 2002, a rise of 44% on 1998
\* Between 1997 and 2001, sales of chilled ready meals rose by 90%, compared with the frozen ready meals sector, which rose by less than 14%
* Demand for convenience is higher in the UK, with 77% of families using ready meals
* As at November 2001, more than one-fifth of adults were eating out at least once a month; 15% ate out once a week
Source: Mintel
Factfile
Leapingsalmon.com
Nightingale House,
1-7 Fulham High Street,
London SW6 3JH
Tel: 0870 701 9100
Founder and managing director: James Marshall
Launched: Online in 1999, first kiosk (Victoria) 2002
Best sellers: main meals for two
From: £15.90 for two, £6.25 for one, starters from £6.20 for two, desserts £6.50 for two, set menu £30.95 for two.
Menu changes: weekly
Rocket Lifestyle
www.rocket.com
(currently moving offices to Clapham)
Owner: Unilever Ventures
Head chef: Jenny Shaw (food service background)
Started: 2000, at UBS Warburg and Waterloo station
Kiosks: Liverpool Street, Waterloo, Cannon Street, Euston, Wimbledon stations. Clapham Junction and Victoria opening soon.
From: £11 for two, £6 for one, desserts £1.90 for one
Menu changes: weekly
Down From The Hills
Hinton Barns, Peterchurch,
Herefordshire HR2 0SQ
Tel: 01981 550 500
www.downfromthehills.co.uk
Owners: Neil and Clare Hogg
Started: March 2003
Investment: Refrigeration and cooking equipment £25-30,000, working capital in packaging materials £2,000, advertising for first six months £8,000
Break-even turnover target for 2003: £40,000
From: £6 for one main course, plus delivery charges
Menu changes: monthly
Such as: Rabbit in Riesling wine, free-range chicken and large black bacon risotto
Home cooking
Entrepreneurs Neil Hogg and his wife, Clare, have just launched a online system for ordering meals. Neil thinks even the meal kit could be too much hassle. "Who wants to get three pans out after a long day at the office?" muses the ex-management consultant who this March set up Down From The Hills, offering mail-order ready meals with a difference.
His idea is restaurant-standard food cooked to order in the Hoggs' home. He gave up long hours in the City and a six-figure salary for a 17th-century barn 20 minutes from Hereford where suits have been replaced by sheep and commuting by cooking.
The Hoggs invested £25,000-£30,000 in refrigeration and cooking equipment, put £2,000 of working capital into packaging materials and set aside an £8,000 budget for advertising in the first six months. Their break-even target for this year is £40,000.
The Hoggs may have changed their lifestyle, but the target market for their new business is the kind of people they've left behind - the same affluent, rushed buyers of gourmet meal kits, and anyone else who wants ready meals a cut above the rest. They charge from £6 for a main course, plus delivery, and the menu changes monthly. Main courses vary from rabbit in Riesling to free-range chicken, to black bacon risotto.
"We looked at friends who weren't going to restaurants as much as they used to, but were bored with a meal from Waitrose or Marks & Spencer," Hogg says. "The quality of supermarket ready meals has increased dramatically, but you don't find real food - a premium free-range chicken dish, for example."
Attention to quality ingredients is one of the factors the Hoggs hope will appeal to customers. They use rare-breed meat (meatballs are made from Manx Loghtan lamb, and the lasagne uses Longhorn beef), and source their purely organic vegetables from the same supplier used by some of the county's top restaurants. Food is cooked to order, chilled and packed in CPET (plastic you can put in the oven or microwave) and an insulated box and delivered chilled, by courier, on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Their prices are higher than the top supermarket ranges, but not hugely, although delivery charges can bump the cost up for small orders. For the moment, the operation is mail-order only but if it takes off, the Hoggs are already thinking about other outlets. It's too early to tell, but their website is already getting several hundred hits a day.
