TheHealthyChefofEssex is a prepared meal delivery company. The company operates in Essex and positions itself as “a healthy food company that delivers meals to your door on a Sunday evening for the week, taking out the hassle of cooking yourself breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
The head of the company only wanted to increase its social media presence. But, Ravello Lab produced a comprehensive digital marketing roadmap for the company. (Data used in the roadmap was gathered from secondary sources on public domains.)
And then, in step two, based on the data gathered on the roadmap, several Instagram campaigns were crafted and the related content was produced.
This is how the head of the company responded when he received his bespoke digital marketing roadmap: “I am impressed… that’s awesome… information is perfect and I am ready to go.”
In addition to the roadmap, Ravello Lab created 16 Instagram posts with a comprehensive content calendar. You can see the posts here.
Digital Marketing Roadmap
Crafted by Barmak Bahrehmand
Date: February 2022
Spent time: 12 Hours
Words: 1909
Background
The HealthyChefofEssex delivers meals to households twice a week on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. It intends to take out the hassle of cooking yourself breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The company is in Essex, England and only delivers to people of Essex, England, SS8 area.
Audience
The service is intended for busy working professionals, people that want to eat healthy food, but don’t have the time to prepare it, or the know how or they don’t know want to cook.
Can also be for people from high incomes who want to take the stress away from choosing food for there family … (Family Prepared Meal)
The population of Essex is around 1,832,752. 90.8% are White British, 3.6% Other White, 2.5% Asian, 1.3% Black, 1.5%, Mixed 0.3%, Other.
Personas
| Working Professionals – Singles |
| Family with Children |
| Couples |
| Vegans |
| Special Diets (Gluten free) |
| Adventurous food lovers |
The company intends to target:
Canvey Island
Benfleet
Hadleigh
Rayleigh
Southend
Shoebury
Competition
Competition is fierce, the churn rate is high and switching cost is very low.
Pricing and taste are key issues. When it comes to food, people get bored quickly if the same food is repeatedly provided to them. So, the menu must be diverse and changing all the time.
You should rely on marketing to gain market share.
These are the global players:
Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef, Marley Spoon, Sun Basket, Abel & Cole, Riverford, Gousto, Quitoque, Kochhaus, Middagsfrid, Allerhandebox, Chefmarket, Kochzauber, Fresh Fitness Food, Mindful Chef and many others are contributing in the Market Growth.
Global Meal Kit industry
According to BrandEssenceResearch.com, prepared meal delivery industry’s forecast shows a flat growth rate in 2022. But all in all, the forecast shows a steady increase in the coming years.
Prepared Meal Delivery Industry Market is valued at USD 3.74 Billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 11.32 Billion by 2027.
According to University of Amsterdam, the meal kit industry was valued at 2.52 billion dollars in 2017, and it was expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5 % by 2025.
Increasing Preference of Meals by Working Population and Students are driving the growth of the market.
Value proposition
We bring healthy food to your life. So, your health will be improved, you mind will work better and as we prepare the food for you you will save lots of time to do what you love instead of standing by the oven.
Our ingredients are fresh. Our menu is diverse and
Brand positioning
Health – “We focus completely on healthy ingredients (no preservatives or saturated fats etc)”.
People’s health goals are our priority.
Budget – ?
Taste – How diverse is the food? How interesting are the ingredients profiles?
Sustainability – Are there any measures taking place?
Sustainability and environmental issues are some of the concerns for a company such as the HealthyChefofEssex because the operation is based on a supply chain and product delivery. Also, packaging and especially the use of plastic is a concern. These issues worried HelloFresh customers and the company has done a lot to meet these issues and keep the churn rate down. We suggest that the company should keep the plastic packaging at a minimum.
The customers are also usually worried about food waste.
Meal kit companies produce 33% less gas emissions compared to grocery meals, a study published in Resources, Conversation and Recycling Journal shows.
Hygiene – What are the standards?
As all food businesses hygiene is highly important and customers want to know that standards are high when it comes to hygiene.
Unique selling point
FRESHLY MADE TWICE A WEEK , DELIVERED FRESH TWICE A WEEK (Sunday and Wednesday evening….
nothing is frozen, no food needs to be frozen ….
Low-cost alternative to junk food
Can cater to macro and calorie requirements, no washing up, no cooking, no worrying on how to eat healthy anymore …
Positioning Statement
For whom, for when, for where?
Our food is for working professionals when they come home after work that they don’t have the time and energy to cook.
What value?
Our food is fresh and healthy, so it is intended for people who care about their health. It is hassle free, it is fresh, healthy, diverse and tasty and you can share it with your family and friends.
Why and how?
Because we don’t use frozen food. Our chef has worked for… and this is what people say about our food. And this is what celebrities and influencers say about us.
Relative to whom?
Think HelloFresh minus the hassle of cooking. HelloYammy!
So, the positioning statement can be something like this:
For busy professionals, the HealthyChefOfEssex is the only brand among all prepared meal delivery companies that delivers healthy delicious food because it has an acclaimed chef and doesn’t use frozen ingredients.
Healthy gourmet meals prepared with fresh and seasonal ingredients delivered to you twice a week with the price of junk food
We are here to provide you freshly cooked healthy meals for your entire work week. Making food exciting at an affordable price.
Channels
The HealthyChefofEssex uses Facebook and Instagram for its marketing purposes. I suggest that the company should expand its digital channels and use influencer and email marketing as well. Its website can also play a pivotal role to attract prospects and build leads.
I suggest the HealtyChefofEssex should spend 25% of its revenue on marketing. This is what HelloFresh did and you should do it as well because the churn rate of prepared food industry is very high, and the swapping cost is very low.
Social media influencers can play a huge role. You should first choose your niche and then contact them. Simple ads bring scepticism. But recommendation by influencers can go a long way. Use podcasters as well. Send them free food to talk about the food.
You should also persuade your current customers to produce content for you as they consume your food. Also, have them write a few notes about your services and use these testimonials on different channels. This is especially important for new customers. Because they need to trust you before buying anything from you.
Also, in your business word of mouth goes a long way. You can mimic what car-sharing companies like Uber do. Give coupons to your subscribers and ask them to hand it over to their friends. As an incentive, tell them that if they bring a customer in, they will get a discount as well. Discount can attract other meal kit buyers because swapping cost is very low. But then you need to keep the customers. (In 2019, HelloFresh’s yearly retaining rate was only 11%.
Strategy (For Persona: Single Professionals)
| Campaign Stage | Strategy | Tactic |
| Reach: Make customers aware of your food | Show how healthy the foods are | Publish stories on Instagram about how you create menus. Publish short Instagram & Facebook posts about the benefits of ingredients. Run a series of posts and show how healthy the food is and compare it with junk food. Find a few influencers/podcasters and send them free food and ask them to talk about the healthy aspect of your food. |
| Show how diverse and exotic the foods are | Publish weekly posts about menu publish posts about exotic ingredients. Run a series of posts with food bundles that are made for different groups of singles. For example, for vegans, gluten-free eaters, … | |
| Show how hassle -ree the food is | Present how easy it is to warm up the food by using a Microwave in small videos. Ask your customers to send you videos that show how they eat the food. As an incentive give them discounts. Create a campaign with this theme: Now that you need to go back to work, you don’t have enough time to cook or even use services like Hellofresh. Now, it is time to get rid of the hassle and have a chef cook for you. Our chef cooks for you and we will deliver it to your fridge. | |
| Show how environmentally friendly the production and delivery are | Run a campaign and name it “Keeping up with Attenborough’s witness Statement” Or “Act Now” and something similar. Use an electric car to show that the company tries to become carbon neutralise. Use paper bowls instead of plastic bowls. Publish statistics that show the amount of food waste and show that the energy consumption is less when the food is prepared at a food company. | |
| Show how hygienic the food is | Create short videos and post them on social channels. Show off any certification of hygiene that you might have. | |
| Make the best out of occasions | You can make the best out of occasions by creating special bundles of food for the occasion. If there is a beer festival, perhaps you could include something in the menu of the week that goes well with a beer. If there is a dog show, perhaps you could ask your customers if they have a dog and send a small treat for the dog as well. If there is a wellbeing festival, perhaps you could include something in the menu that is good for the mind and spirit… Occasions: Southend Winter Pride: 26 Feb 2022 Chappell Winter Beer Festival: 3-5 March 2022 All About Dogs Show (Hylands): 1-2 MAY 2022 Life Arts Mind, Body, Spirit and Wellbeing Festival Chelmsford: 20-21 MAY 2022 Chelmsford Arts and Cultural Festival: 3 JUN-3JUL 2022 | |
| Interact: Make customers consider your food | Encourage interaction | Ask the prospects who visit your social media channels to visit the website and read the reviews/blog posts about ingredients. Ask the prospects who visit your social media channels or the website to download a guide about how to maintain a healthy diet. Ask the prospects who visit your social media channels or the website to subscribe to your email newsletter. |
| Convertion: Make customers subscribe | Send 20% discount to people who have subscribed to your newsletter. Send 20% discount to people who have downloaded your guide to a healthy diet. Ask your current customers to give a discount coupon to their friends and as an incentive give them a discount as well. | |
| Engage: Keep your customers | Send customers a questionnaire from time to time and ask for their feedback. Offer special bundles of foods only to current customers. Offer a 1500 calorie a day diet for people who want to lose weight. Run polls on Instagram and ask customers which ingredients or meals they prefer. Tell them the winning ingredient will be added to the menu of the week. Gather the birthday date of your customers and send them a small gift or a bottle of wine when the time comes. You can send a catalogue alongside the meals that would explain the meal’s health benefits. You can suggest wines and tell your customers which wines go well with which food. You can sell wines as an additional service. |