• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Tech

Munchery’s new meal kits promise restaurant recipes in less than 15 minutes

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 27, 2015, 10:00 AM ET
Courtesy of Munchery
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

What’s better than a fancy prepared meal showing up at your door? Preparing it yourself in only 15 minutes, according to Munchery, a food delivery company based in San Francisco.

Though the four-year-old startup has been doing just fine delivering prepared meals to its customers, it found that people also want to cook their own food sometimes. But many don’t know how to, or don’t have time to slave in the kitchen for hours. So on Tuesday, Munchery will debut a handful of do-it-yourself meal kits.

“When we talk to customers and we say, ‘Hey, on the nights that you don’t order Munchery or any take-out at all, what do you do?’ 75% of them say ‘I’m cooking,’” Munchery co-founder and CEO Tri Tran tells Fortune.

For the first round of kits, Munchery has partnered with The Slanted Door, a well-known upscale Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco founded by chef Charles Phan, who moved to the city as a teenager. Unbeknownst to most San Franciscans, the restaurants has already been selling kits based on some of its well-known dishes at its Ferry Building location. When Munchery began to toy with the idea of meal kits, Phan was a natural first partner, Munchery chief customer experience officer Pascal Rigo, who founded Starbucks-owned bakery chain La Boulange, tells Fortune.

“Fortunately for me, they didn’t call me last, they called me first,” Phan says. “We’re moving on the same plane,” he added of the two companies’ common idea of selling kits. To Phan, the Munchery partnership is also a way to get his food to more people, especially those who can’t come to his restaurant.

The first lineup of meal kit options includes five Slanted Door-inspired dishes, along with two dessert options based on La Boulange’s own recipes. The kits are priced between $18 and $24, depending on the dish, and contain two portions.

Though meal delivery startups like Munchery, Caviar, Sprig, Postmates, and Doordash, to name a few, have dominated the conversation around hassle-free food delivery, meal kits have also begun to garner attention. Companies like Blue Apron, Plated, and HelloFresh are selling the promise of all the upsides of cooking from scratch, minus the hassles of coming up with recipes and shopping for ingredients. They ship to customers boxes with recipes and all the ingredients, in the right amounts, needed to prepare them.

While Munchery’s kits aim to ease these same inconveniences, there are a few small differences. For one, there’s no subscription obligation involved. Unlike companies like Blue Apron and Plated, which in fairness do let customers skip scheduled deliveries whenever they want, Munchery’s kits are ordered on an individual basis. They can combine them with Munchery’s prepared food, such as ordering a kit for the main dish and fully prepared sides, for example. Right now, San Francisco customers can order kits with as little as a 30-minute notice, while customers in the company’s other markets—Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City—have to order by 2 p.m. for same-day delivery. Delivery fees are the same as for Munchery’s prepared meals: $4.50 for a short-notice delivery, and $2.95 for pre-scheduled deliveries.

Another difference, is that the ingredients in Munchery’s kits are a bit more prepared than those from Blue Apron or Plated. The Shaking Beef kit contained pre-cooked rice, and the beef and vegetables were already chopped. The cake in the chocolate fondant recipe was already baked and the strawberry syrup pre-made. If anything, they more closely resemble those of startup Din, formerly called Forage, which also ships easy-to-assemble recipes inspired by restaurants like San Francisco’s Tacolicious. The approach also reminds me of my own grocery shopping, which often involves buying partially prepared or frozen items I can quickly combine with fresh meat or veggies—not exactly cooking from scratch.

But that might just be the first step to cooking some of Munchery’s customers need. To Rigo, these kits could be the boost of confidence they need to start exploring cooking.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

For more on food delivery, watch this Fortune video:

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

Sam Altman and Jony Ive formed a dream team to reinvent hardware. Now it’s at the center of a battle for OpenAI’s future
Big TechOpenAI
Sam Altman and Jony Ive formed a dream team to reinvent hardware. Now it’s at the center of a battle for OpenAI’s future
By Emily Forlini and Sebastian HerreraJuly 22, 2026
17 minutes ago
After SpaceX’s $2 trillion debut, investors are eyeing Anthropic and OpenAI. Market experts share how to play the next trillion-dollar IPO
MagazineIPOs
After SpaceX’s $2 trillion debut, investors are eyeing Anthropic and OpenAI. Market experts share how to play the next trillion-dollar IPO
By Amanda GerutJuly 22, 2026
18 minutes ago
Panera founder and Cava chairman Ron Shaich bets $100 million on Level99, bringing his restaurant industry playbook to entertainment
C-SuiteFood and drink
Panera founder and Cava chairman Ron Shaich bets $100 million on Level99, bringing his restaurant industry playbook to entertainment
By Catherina GioinoJuly 22, 2026
18 minutes ago
t
AIMarkets
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg warns Trump’s AI ownership plan would make ‘George Orwell blush’
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
9 hours ago
U.N. reports Southeast Asia’s criminal networks are using tech to build a global illicit economy
AsiaTech
U.N. reports Southeast Asia’s criminal networks are using tech to build a global illicit economy
By The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
10 hours ago
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion over pirated books used to train Claude in first major AI copyright settlement
LawAnthropic
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion over pirated books used to train Claude in first major AI copyright settlement
By The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
12 hours ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
15 hours ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
16 hours ago
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
AI
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
By Jason MaJuly 18, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.