Purple Carrot is a vegan-friendly, plant-based meal kit subscription service that's now going retail.
(Read our full Purple Carrot review here.)
The company has launched a line of single-serve frozen meals currently available at Whole Foods Market stores in the US. Time to swap the steak for plant-based meatball marinara?
The meals are created in harmony with the company's flavor profiles and food philosophy: 100% plant-based, delicious, and nutritious.
They are developed in partnership with CPG company Conagra Brands, owner of brands such as Earth Balance and Health Choice.
The single-serve meals from Purple Carrot that you'll find in the freezer at Whole Foods Market are:
Purple Carrot is based in Massachusetts, and the retail line is the first of its kind. The founder and CEO of Purple Carrot is excited about the introduction of their "incredible" plant-based meals in the freezer of your local grocery store.
"As more and more consumers are seeking to add plant-based options to their weekly routines but aren't ready to commit to a full lifestyle change, these single-serve meals offer a perfect way to get a taste of what plant-based foods can offer," said Andy Levitt, founder and CEO of Purple Carrot in a press release. "From the beginning, Purple Carrot has been dedicated to creating incredible plant-based meals that even non-plant-based consumers will love, and our new frozen line is no different."
While the meal kit industry had plummeted during 2019 and the beginning of 2020, research suggests it has seen a resurgence thanks to the pandemic. People spend more time at home, and cooking can be a calming and comforting activity in times of uncertainty. Getting a meal kit directly to the door reduces the risks associated with being around others. Considering that upswing in their business, Purple Carrots move into the freezers of Whole Foods might seem odd. Haven't people been avoiding supermarkets like the plague this strange year?
Maybe. But the Purple Carrot Whole Foods partnership is riding on the wave of changes in personal preferences: the pandemic pushes more and more people to order their groceries online.
It would make sense that people are getting increasingly health-conscious and looking to undergo a major lifestyle change and add plant-based options to their daily menu.
Ready-made, single-serve meals offer the convenience of just reheating and eating – and plant-based foods give the immune system a welcome boost.
With many working from home, the Purple Carrot single-serve meals such as meatball marinara can be their go-to in the freezer for some healthy midday fuel. Recent research verifies this hypothesis.
In fact, plant-based foods have seen an increase in demand, with the market for those items reaching a high of $5 billion in 2019. That corresponds to an 11.4% year-over-year sales growth, according to the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA) – a remarkable number in comparison to the increase in retail food sales in the US as a whole, which was only 2.2% in 2019. [1] Looks like the idea of creating incredible plant-based single-serve meals is a great business idea right now – since even non-plant-based consumers are turning their forks toward green meals.
Time will tell if the virus will make the concept of frozen food as medicine go viral.
References
[1] https://plantbasedfoods.org/marketplace/retail-sales-data/ as seen on Nov 23, 2020
