On Trend: Meal delivery services are bringing the heat

Could this mean that the home kitchen’s toast?

With online ordering and delivery of anything on the menu at eateries from coffee shops to pubs, a 2018 report from Swiss financial services giant UBS predicts that preparing food at home may be obsolete by 2030. A survey of 1,500 Canadians in May by Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and Angus Reid Global found that 33 percent of B.C. respondents had used a food delivery app. Nationally, Winnipeg-based SkipTheDishes is the most popular, followed by Uber Eats, headquartered in San Francisco.

Behind the scenes

The Surrey-based Joseph Richard Group restaurant chain has cooked up a line of foods for delivery only. Meal Ticket Brands (Bird n’ Hand, Bun + Burger, Frsh Frys, Master Chicken, Obey Poke, Power Plant Greens, Stak’d Sandwich Co. and Sweet Tooth Desserts) each have individual menus. JRG prepares the dishes in its existing restaurants but plans to open a concept kitchen to house some of the brands and use for testing.

Preppy outfits

U.S. market research company NPD Group revealed in July that 13 percent of Canadians (62 percent of them male) have used meal kits and 42 percent are interested in trying one. B.C. services like Fresh Prep Foods, Local Urban Bites and Meal Prep for You deliver prepped ingredients to assemble and cook.