The Next Best Thing to Mom’s
When you work or study full-time and don’t have the luxury of a cooking roommate or partner waiting for you at home, home-cooked meals are like something from a fairytale in a far, far away galaxy. Thus, they are simply not happening, unless you find the time to pop over to your parents house to enjoy mom’s (or dad’s) special dish, but that is a huge effort in itself.
And sure, delivery services are super convenient and eating out can be fantastic (yet expensive), but sometimes we get sick of it all and the only thing we crave is a simple and delicious meal, we can whip up in our own kitchen in no time. While that first thought can be appealing “Oh, tonight I could cook…”, there often follows a big fat “BUT” like “but what should I cook”, “but I need to search for a recipe”, “but I dont have the time and energy to do the grocery shopping”, “but there is still some cold Domino’s pizza in the fridge” and so on. You know the drill.
Luckily, there is some people, who don’t just moan about a problem, but actually roll up their sleeves, sit down and figure out a way, how to make all of our lives easier. Sebastian Esser is definitely one of these smart people with smart ideas. As one of the founders of Home eat Home, he is making sure that home cooked meals will become the rule rather than the exception in our lives. He told us all about his startup and current projects:
Sebastian, please introduce yourself and Home eat Home. What is the concept all about?
I’m Sebastian Esser, Co-Founder of Home eat Home. Home eat Home is a new food service that offers pre-packed meal bags, with all necessary ingredients ready for pick-up in decentralized pick-up stations. Building on a network of pick-up stations, Home eat Home is building a new distribution channel, that offers various business opportunities and consumer benefits in the food sector.
You have recently won the Deutsche Bahn Pitch with a pop up store at Berlin Hauptbahnhof as your prize. Congratulations! What are the benefits of opening a pop up store for you?
To have the Deutsche Bahn as our business partner is awesome. At the moment we are in a phase, when we need to reach potential customers. There are not a lots of possibilities to get in contact with as much people as at the Hauptbahnhof. We will use the pop up store to explain our product and explain the service to potential customers.
Can you also tell us a little bit about the challanges? For example, how do you ensure the quality of your products?
Especially, when working with food, there is no second chance, if your product quality is not absolutely perfect. With home eat home we strive to fulfill all requirements to ensure the best experience for our customers. All our partners are selected by upholding strict criteria.
Food and Beverages are a big trend in the startup and pop up scene right now. How does your model fit into the slow food movement?
Indeed, it is a big trend. Which is more proof instead of a threat to us. Our everyday life is getting increasingly hectic and unfortunately there is less and less time to prepare a meal at home and enjoy the social benefits of cooking. However, an increasing target group is interested in a healthy lifestyle and fresh dinner options. The current options available, like fast food, frozen food and take away are accepted but not desired solutions, as they are convenient for busy weekdays but are neither perceived as healthy nor fresh. We see a lack of dinner solutions which can offer convenient AND healthy dinner options as a significant market opportunity.
Through extensive customer interviews we identified that current subscription and delivery services are still not convenient enough for this target group: waiting for a delivery person in a two-hour time slot is not desired. A subscription service is often not an option as dinner is mostly planned at the same day and subscription services are too inflexible to cater to this need.
Your pop up shop is opening at Hauptbahnhof from July 1st. What is unique about your brand and what sets you apart from other shops?
Our technology is giving us the freedom to operate our business with just a little bit of space. We don’t need a classical shop concept. I think this is a pretty exciting possibility for the Deutsche Bahn. Next to this, our customers have the chance to pre-select our products and pick them up from various spots all over the city. Flexibility, is essential for us. We do not force people into subscription models nor into a situation where the have to plan too much in advance.
Thank you Sebastian!
Where to find Home eat Home
If you are curious to check out Home eat Home, you can visit their pop up store at Hauptbahnhof starting July 2015 or simply go on their website for more info about online orders and pick-up points in your neighbourhood.
