Two things we’ve seen increase during the pandemic: online food deliveries and demand for plant-based protein. Alt-protein company Eat Just is bundling those two ideas together with a new delivery offering that’s looks to be part meal kit and part virtual cooking session for homebound NYCers in need of brunch. The company is giving away free “Brunch in a Box” kits to residents of the Big Apple via a hotline users can text to get their meals.
Each kit contains ingredients for one of three recipes developed by Eat Just: eggs Florentine, eggnog French toast, and buckwheat crêpes. To get one, users text BrunchNYC to 35344, designating which of the above three meals they would like to cook. A spokesperson from Eat Just said all kits include every ingredient needed to create the recipe. The kits will be fulfilled by Amazon Prime Now.
An accompanying series of online cooking tutorials led by Chef Bec shows users exactly how to prep and cook the meals.
The idea is to help consumers recreate brunch at home, which I suspect will be happening a lot now that cold weather is here and the pandemic continues to restrict restaurant dining rooms. Bringing brunch indoors via delivery is one way to do that. “Our team wanted to help make the transition back indoors easier by sharing some new recipes featuring seasonal ingredients and healthier twists on brunch classics,” Eat Just’s spokesperson said of the new program.
The “Brunch in a Box” kits will be available for a limited time for free. Adding another virtual layer to the project, the company is working with local influencers to get the word out. Those include Priyanka Naik, NYC food blogger Dominek, and Vegan in the Hood.
The company’s most recent NYC outreach isn’t strictly limited to the online realm, though. Last week, Eat Just along with a handful of other alt-protein companies announced their Plantega project. Through it, the collective will offer grab-and-go options at the local bodega, with the goal of getting plant-based foods to areas of the city where they might otherwise be harder to access.
“Everyone, regardless of their zip code, should have the opportunity to enjoy food that is good for their bodies and good for the planet,” Eat Just founder and CEO Josh Tetrick said in a statement emailed to The Spoon. “Growing up in the South, eating meals that were convenient and cheap but bad for my health, is what motivated me to start a company that could help bring meaningful change to the food system.”
Plantega will include offerings from Eat Just as well as Beyond Meat, No Evil Foods, Miyoko’s Creamery, Good Catch, and several others. Goods are available now in Brooklyn at the Don Polo Meat Market and Gourmet Deli, as well as at My Deli Gourmet & Grill in the Bronx.
Eat Just said it that the success of these initial locations will depend on whether the Plantega project expands to locations in the future, in both NYC and beyond.
Leave a Reply