Dive Brief:
- Hershey has announced a partnership with online meal kit marketplace Chef'd to create the first branded dessert meal kits.
- Recipes feature Hershey’s Kitchens and the Scharffen Berger brand of artisanal chocolates.
- Consumers can order the kits at any time from HersheysKitchens.com, Scharffenberger.com and Chefd.com without paying a subscription or membership fees.
Dive Insight:
The home meal kit market is surging by about 300% per year, according to PiperJaffray, and is predicted to hit $36 billion over the next decade. While meal kit sales could put a dent in grocery store sales, Hershey demonstrates another way to capitalize on the growth of the meal kit industry: brand partnerships.
Manufacturers can work with meal kit producers to create convenient dishes that help push their products through the e-commerce channel. Companies also deliver everything the consumer needs to make a meal from scratch at home, which has become more popular as at-home food prices continue to decline. This could also alleviate some of the internal and shipping logistics manufacturers face for online shoppers.
A dessert-themed meal kit makes sense for Hershey, and this could be the start of a new sub-trend in the industry. Desserts are becoming smaller, more convenient and tend to contain simpler, better-for-you ingredients. Meal kits enable consumers to better control the ingredients in their dishes, and dessert meal kits align confectionery and snacks with the fast-growing consumer health trend.