To get more people to rediscover home-cooked dinners, HelloFresh opened a “ghost kitchen” in a popular takeaway app. But after just one day, the platform shut down the store, as a result of messaging that went against its business. HelloFresh is now changing course and is doubling the number of free dinner kits handed out at the physical pop-up TAKE AWAY TAKEAWAY in Stockholm.
Young adults and families with young children are the groups that order the most takeaway food in Sweden, according to a new survey from meal-kit brand HelloFresh. A majority of young adults and parents with younger children order takeaway food every month or more often (51.5%). According to the study, an average family with young children spends over 1,000 USD a year on takeaway food.
However, it often ends in disappointment. One in five people who have ordered takeaway food have regretted it afterwards several times (21%). Among families with younger children, that figure is as high as 65 percent. The most common reasons Swedes regret their takeaway food are that the food was cold or unappetizing, that the quality did not live up to the price, or that the order was incorrect.
Opened for business in a takeaway app – got shut down
To make it easier to break up with takeaway, HelloFresh this week opened a temporary “ghost kitchen” in a popular takeaway app. The idea was to offer dinner kits with fresh ingredients and encourage more home-cooked dinners. However, the platform soon responded by shutting down HelloFresh’s digital store, as the messaging conflicted with the app’s business.
Delete an app – get a free meal kit
Part of the campaign was also a physical pop-up TAKE AWAY TAKEAWAY on Södermalm in Stockholm. Here, visitors are encouraged to delete a takeaway app in exchange for a dinner kit. After the digital shutdown, the number of kits handed out to those who break up with takeaway is being doubled.
“Home-cooked food is our identity. At the same time, we are in a takeaway food epidemic. Studies from the Public Health Agency of Sweden show that Swedes’ eating habits continue to develop in the wrong direction and are deteriorating. We know that takeaway apps are often the first thing people open when hunger strikes and energy levels are at rock bottom. That is why in the campaign we wanted to place ourselves exactly there, to offer a rescue in the form of a real meal and help people end their destructive relationship with takeaway food,” says Carina Berg, Senior PR Manager at HelloFresh Nordics.
“It also feels fantastic that, for such an important cause, we are for the first time in Sweden opening a venue where customers can get food on site”, she continues.
