The home meal kit market is soaring in value, now valued at an estimated $2 billion-plus. With big players like Amazon entering at the top of the opportunity, others are selecting different, large and possibly profitable niches to attack. The hope for companies such as Kidstir, Scrumpt and Kidfresh, targeting parents of young people, is to find a large enough target audience to not only drive revenue but also to make them attractive for possible buyouts.
The kid’s meal market has two parts—kits designed for children to enjoy a cooking experience with their parents and prepared meals for young people to take to school. Of the trio of kid meal companies, Kidfresh is the lone non-subscription company with its frozen, healthy snacks and mains available at such outlets as Walmart and Kroger. Kidstir’s cook-along-with-adults’ packages and Scumpt’s take-it-to-school full lunches require a subscription which includes home delivery.
Helmed by Ayesha Curry, Homemade is more of a traditional meal kit company with its recipes aimed at families with kids. Ayesha, wife of Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, is a cookbook author and host of a show on Food Network, “Ayesha’s Home Kitchen,” as well as a spokesperson for many organizations aiming to combat childhood hunger.
Homemade offers subscription and non-subscription plans as well as products such as olive oil and gift cards. Even with all the meal kit companies in the market, Curry told Fortune that she saw a need to target families with children looking for nutritious, easy-to-prepare dinners.
“However, as a busy mom with two young kids, I was having a very difficult time finding a meal kit that my whole family could enjoy,” Curry said. “I needed meals that were beyond the basic humdrum weeknight meal, but were still accessible enough for my daughters. And because I couldn’t find it, I created it.”
Curry and newcomers such as Kidfresh are just a handful of companies eyeing this family-oriented opportunity. Others include:
One Potato--Founded by cookbook author Catherine McCord, the company delivers organics ingredients that can be assembled into a meal in 30 minutes or less.
Sun Basket--Led by celebrity chef/TV host Tyler Florence, Sun Basket is more of a traditional meal kit company, but has a clear focus on families.
Raddish—A subscription service that provides boxes of goodies that children and their parents can cut, chop, bake, broil or grill into homecooked meals.
As the market for meal kits matures with Amazon, Blue Apron and others battling it out for market share, we likely will see even more startups focus on large, lucrative niches. Some of those opportunities could include kits aimed at busy seniors, those on special diets such as diabetics, and even kosher/halal packages.
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