Purple Carrot, a vegan meal-kit company based in Boston, now sells its boxes of pre-measured ingredients in local Whole Foods stores, says the Boston Globe — a twist from the meal-kit model of shipping food and recipes to a subscriber’s home. “After realizing they’re literally getting their lunch stolen by these startups, they [grocers] have begun to look for ways to tap into the public’s interest in the trend,” the newspaper says.
Supermarket chain Giant has begun offering its own prepared meals and its corporate partner, Peapod, an online grocery site, offers ingredient kits that feed four to six people, said the Globe. “Amazon’s food delivery service, Fresh, has its own meal kit model in partnership with Tyson Foods.”
Whole Foods will sell Purple Carrot’s kits at a slightly lower price than Purple Carrot charges because there is no delivery fee. Purple Carrot chief executive Andy Levitt says he hopes the result is more subscribers. Adam Salmonone, co-founder of the Food Loft business incubator, says the move by Whole Foods is a logical way for a grocer to play a role in meal kits, and he told the Globe the relationship could be a “low-cost R&D before they roll something out on their own.”