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Comment by artag | Hacker News Reader

I haven't tried Sprig yet, but Munchery's business model is awesome. They are not trying to be a fast / cheap food service. They hire top notch chefs who prepare high end food. The cost of meal is b/w $10-$15. The quality of the food is what you will expect in a high end restaurant. They are basically getting rid of all the real-estate of a high end restaurant and delivering awesome food directly to you (lots of economies of scale). I am spending roughly about $500 per month ordering food from them. Highest quality food, delivered to you at very reasonable prices (I'm pretty sure I'll pay at least 50+% more for the same food if I went to a high end restaurant).

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This makes a lot more sense if you're right about the numbers. It's not the single meal they are targeting but 2-4 meals. That will drive down the number of meals they have to deliver to make a profit. If the meals are of superb quality this idea works. But it might be tough if they are delivering: food doesn't travel well -- your food is guaranteed to be sitting for 5-15 minutes.

I think they are targeting dinner for families. I always order 2 meals since they don't deliver lunch. You have to order food before 10am and they deliver b/w 3-6. My food is definitely sitting at least 1-2 hours because it is being delivered from SF to Mt view. I believe they have proper storage in the delivery vans - I don't know the details though.

In SF proper you can order Munchery as late as 4pm.

Key Munchery operational detail: the food does not travel hot. It arrives refrigerated, with detailed reheating options. Wouldn't be surprised if it is flash-chilled after cooking (otherwise how do they get my steak right every time :))

Sous Vide

I haven't tried Munchery since I live outside SF, but I'm surprised the food tastes good reheated. I've never had restaurant leftovers taste very good, particularly in the proteins where the moisture loss in heat/cool/reheat is significant. And the presentation ends up looking more like a TV dinner than the plated dinner shown on the website.

Does the perception around the chef/dishes contribute more to the positive experience than the actual taste of the food?

This makes me think about food carts. Here in Portland, they are are filling the niche for fine food at discount prices. For weekday lunches I pay $6-9 for what would be $12-20 in a restaurant. Clearly many other customers are doing the same. The local weekly recently reported that there are now 750 carts in town.

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