Square One Markets Pilots All-in-One Dinner Kits
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Square One Markets Inc. has launched a pilot test of a new dinner kit that lets busy customers prepare family meals in less than 30 minutes. The all-in-one Six O'Clock Scramble Fresh & Fast Family Dinner Kits are designed to provide healthy options while eliminating traditional downsides to meal-delivery kits: cost, packaging waste and the need order them in advance.
Some locally grown and produced ingredients from the Bethlehem area will also be featured in the kits. Square One Markets will offer them for the next 10 weeks as part of the test, with a new meal offered each week. Customers will be surveyed to determine which meals worked best, and why.
"Our customers are excited to be part of this pilot test and look forward to redefining convenience with these meal solutions," said Square One Markets CEO Lisa Dell'Alba. "It makes so much sense to create this program for drivers already fueling up."
The dinner kits include meal ingredients and recipe cards that contain everything necessary to prepare a fast, fresh meal. Each kit sells for approximately $20 and is designed to feed a family of four. This $5-per-person price makes the kits less than half the price of meal-delivery services, and without the packaging waste and carbon footprint from shipping, Square One stated.
Square One Markets and The Six O'Clock Scramble worked with the Project on Nutrition & Wellness and NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, to develop the dinner kits.
"The evening hours are when families stress about dinner preparation plans. This evening rush is also the most popular time to buy gasoline," said Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for NACS. "This is a great way to combine two trips into one."
The Wednesday launch of the pilot test at the Square One Markets store located at 1125 W. Broad St. in Bethlehem featured cooking demonstrations and recipe sampling from noon to 6:30 p.m. featuring the kits' creator, cookbook author, "Today" show contributor and The Six O'Clock Scramble CEO Aviva Goldfarb.
"As more families have two working parents and busy schedules, it can be a challenge to plan for healthy meals, let alone make an extra stop to purchase the ingredients," said Goldfarb. "The Six O'Clock Scramble Fresh & Fast Dinner Kits provide a convenient and affordable solution for busy families, and gets them on their way quickly to a healthy family meal."
Families that want to cook more meals together but can't cite busy schedules (43 percent) and being too tired after school or work (31 percent) as the primary barriers, according to a new NACS consumer study.
Additionally, 77 percent of consumers say they would be interested in purchasing an all-in-one meal kit from a store and 85 percent of weekly c-store customers say they would purchase a dinner meal kit.