As subscription meal kits grow in popularity, managing the supply chain for these products becomes more challenging. From sourcing and packaging to transportation and delivery, ensuring efficient operations will help a meal kit brand stand out and keep customers loyal.
Meal kits: A convenient alternative
Consumers with busy lives and hectic schedules are looking to meal kits for the convenience factor so that they can save time and energy spent on meal planning, cut down on grocery shopping and cook on their own schedules. For the more adventurous consumers, it’s all about the experience — finding new, delicious culinary experiences they can explore in their own homes.
That experience relies on various factors, like freshly sourced ingredients that are conveniently pre-packaged and measured to avoid food waste, recipes that are easy to follow, and attractive packaging that effectively organizes and protects the product. However, a positive customer interaction can also hinge on the delivery itself. Consumers expect a meal kit delivered on time, with unspoiled contents, and preferably in a way that doesn’t inflate their carbon footprint.
That’s where crowdsourced delivery comes in.
Delivering fresh food, fast and safely
When it comes to delivering groceries, perishable goods and meal kits, food safety is of the utmost importance. Dangerous bacteria can grow within hours (or less) if refrigerated food items warm to room temperature, making immediate delivery critical.
That’s why delivery can be so challenging for meal kits. Many meal kit services rely on regional providers in different areas of the country. Unfortunately, that often means different delivery standards and capabilities between different areas. As such, providing a reliable and consistent delivery experience for customers requires finding a delivery partner that can handle the brand’s full service area.
Why Roadie is an ideal meal kit delivery partner
Consumers are attracted to the convenience, flexibility and reliability of meal kit delivery, so meal kit brands need a delivery partner that can handle those expectations. Partnering with Roadie offers numerous benefits for meal kit brands, such as:
- A national delivery footprint. Roadie’s ability to enable ultrafast delivery to 97% of U.S. households makes it an ideal delivery partner for fast and safe meal kit delivery while ensuring a uniform customer experience — regardless of geography.
- Fast, on-demand delivery. Customers want choice when it comes to when, where and how they receive their orders. The right delivery solution should be ready to deliver on demand so any retailer can keep that customer satisfaction up and their bottom line top of mind.
- Scalability. Using Roadie also allows senders to scale up and down seamlessly as their customer base and target markets evolve. Using Roadie as your primary delivery solution increases delivery efficiency nationwide and brings with it the opportunity to leverage volume discounts. For meal kit companies, this provides the flexibility and reliability necessary to successfully navigate a rapidly changing, competitive customer landscape.
- Batching and routing. Roadie’s batching and routing capabilities can help to further streamline meal kit deliveries. With batched delivery, Roadie’s proprietary algorithm combines multiple orders into a single pickup and plans out an efficient delivery route based on parameters like direction and delivery deadline. Warehouse employees then pick the orders, group them and prepare for driver pickup. To make processing even easier, employees can use the Roadie SmartSort™ app installed on scanners or mobile devices. Then, a crowdsourced delivery driver picks up the batch of orders and delivers each order quickly and safely, within a few hours.
Ready to learn more about batched and routed delivery and how you can use it to optimize your last mile? Download our white paper to learn more about the benefits of Roadie’s batching and routing solution.
