Handpick Introduces “Smart Groceries” Affordable Groceries for the Masses That Lets Consumers Pay Less, Get More
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 30, 2015 -- Handpick Inc., the market-leading ingredient recommendation engine and award-winning food discovery app, today unveiled a new service that introduces affordable meal solutions for the masses. Handpick’s new “Smart Groceries” service helps consumers shop, cook and eat healthy meals while stretching their food budget wisely. Smart Groceries was designed to appeal to a wider, cross-income scale and is ideal for busy individuals, couples and parents who are looking for a fast, convenient yet economical way to feed themselves or their families healthy, tasty meals.
Handpick’s newly launched mobile-based service also caught the attention of Apple’s App Store which has selected it as part of its “Best New Apps” featured on the App Store homepage.
“We view our meal solutions as ‘smart’ because our approach is the more affordable, sustainable way to cook, in contrast to competitors. Our recipes are intelligently selected, not by chef consultants or at a round-table, but using our market-leading data insights on social foods, ingredients trending and the sentiments around them. The secret sauce behind Handpick’s Smart Groceries is that they’re designed to use up any perishable food by week’s end, leaving zero food waste. Moreover, customers can use our mobile app in case they change their minds and want to prepare something else with ingredients delivered in their food bundle,” stated Payman Nejati, Handpick’s co-founder and CEO. “Our long-term mission with Smart Groceries is to provide the most affordable groceries that save consumers time and money while minimizing food waste.”
Handpick’s offering is comprised of select groceries, sourced from local supermarkets, that come with 3 step-by-step, illustrated recipes which will make at least 2 servings. Consumers get to choose from among 5 types of cuisines (Gluten-Free, Seafood, Vegetarian, Asian, and Meat Lovers). Each grocery bundle contains between 10-to-15 whole, unopened ingredients, all perfectly paired with Handpick’s recipes. Smart Groceries takes a page from existing online grocery ordering services, which deliver time-savings and convenience, and also takes a page from newer meal kit delivery services, which go further by providing a meal solution in the form of recipes and pre-measured, limited ingredients to cook. Smart Groceries delivers all three of these benefits and then goes further to provide several other distinct advantages, including:
- Shoppers Pay Less. Handpick’s food bundles are 30-60% less expensive than meal kit delivery vendors, which range from $60-$96 for 3 meals of 2 measured servings. Smart Groceries begins at $40 (including shipping and handling) — with no membership fees, no forced subscriptions, and no minimum orders.
- Bigger Portions. Meal kit delivery vendors divide, measure and ration food ingredients with every delivery. Handpick’s Smart Groceries approach delivers whole, full-sized ingredients (i.e.: a whole package of cheese, a full head of broccoli, a full bag of quinoa, a full jar of tahini, etc.) – just like a shopper would expect when they drop a grocery item into their cart. Consequently, Handpick’s portion sizes are also much larger thanks to the full-sized ingredients that come with each food bundle. This gives customers additional flexibility to add more of the ingredients that they like.
- No Food Waste, No Excessive Packaging Waste. Handpick’s Smart Groceries are intelligently paired to use up all perishable ingredients in each bundle to eliminate food waste. Any remaining pantry items can be used again for future meals, stretching consumers’ dollars. Smart Groceries is eco-friendly, containing the least amount of packaging possible. Since Handpick delivers complete, unopened ingredients straight from the grocer, it avoids excessive handling, packaging and non-biodegradable waste common with the others (plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic containers, etc.).
- Flexibility. Smart Groceries is a non-subscription service, meaning no customer lock-in. With Handpick, consumers enjoy flexibility to order whenever they want, with no minimum spend levels, or required recurring delivery of groceries. Consumers also get to weigh in on their food preferences. The current selection offers among other options gluten-free and vegetarian choices. Handpick plans to accommodate many more diets and food restrictions. By offering several options based on diet, food allergies, and cuisine, consumers don’t have to settle for a vendor choosing what’s for dinner.
- Mobile App. In the age of mobile-first, Handpick’s Smart Groceries is obtainable with one tap from its free mobile app. Handpick has the world’s largest searchable database of food, with more than 250 million recipes and user-generated food posts, giving it rich insights into what people like to eat, what cuisines are popular, and what food ingredients are trending. For added flexibility, customers can use Handpick’s unrivaled ingredient recommendation engine. If users feel like eating something other than a recipe provided, they can simply enter ingredients into the app to get new dish ideas to cook instead.
- Family-Friendly: Many of the other prepared food delivery and meal kit services focus on recreating fancy dishes from 5-star restaurants, emulating celebrity chefs’ dishes, or incorporating gourmet, specialty ingredients that children would not want to eat (i.e.: epazote leaves, Kombu stock, fiddlehead ferns, green garlic, etc.). Handpick’s aim is not to turn the experience into a cooking lesson or to master fancy cooking techniques but rather to simplify preparing and eating quick, healthy meals. Recipes are chosen to be fast and easy to make. The step-by-step illustrated recipes make it easy for non-cooks to succeed in the kitchen or to involve kids as well. Food bundles can be ordered in quantities of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 to accommodate varying family sizes.
Payman Nejati added, “We believe our Smart Groceries actually helps shoppers stay on budget because the service picks, packs, and delivers groceries to one’s doorstep, eliminating typical impulse purchases that drive the final receipt higher than what it was supposed to be. We’re honored and thrilled that our mobile-based Smart Groceries service was recognized as a ‘Best New Apps’ and is featured on the App Store’s homepage.”
Handpick Taps Leading Supermarket and Delivery Service Providers
The company is delivering initially throughout the state of California, with plans to distribute nationally via a regional rollout. Handpick has partnered up with one of the top national supermarkets in North America as its local grocery supplier of choice and OnTrac, a widely used delivery service that most meal kit delivery services also use. Handpick plans to expand its food grocery partnerships with a wide range of grocery providers and retailers to meet its customers’ preferences.
Pricing, Availability, Ordering via Apple Pay
All pricing includes a nominal shipping fee, with Smart Groceries beginning at $40 -- all inclusive. Handpick’s new service is available immediately via its free mobile app available at Apple’s App Store. An Android version will be launching shortly. To order, consumers merely open Handpick’s app, tap the app’s new Shop tab, select their bundle choice, complete the order using Apple Pay or a credit card and that’s it. Free of formal subscription commitments, consumers can order whenever they want, without having to stress about missing a 7-day window to cancel future food shipments such as others require. Handpick plans to make its Smart Groceries on-demand. Initially, there is a 3-day delivery, so if an order is placed on a Monday, the food bundle will arrive by Thursday of the same week.
Click here to see a video about Smart Groceries: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nt4ohhghy9okthd/Handpick%20bundle%2020150729.mov?dl=0
About Handpick
Based in San Francisco, Handpick is the market-leading ingredient recommendation engine and food discovery app, currently 250x the largest recipe site. Its award-winning app provides access to the world’s largest curated feed of 100 million social food posts from Instagram, including dishes from 1.6 million content creators worldwide. Handpick solves the universal problem of what to do with ingredients, by providing dish ideas using ingredients already on-hand, helping to minimize food waste. With offices in Shanghai and Manila, Handpick is backed by investors with deep experience in the food supply chain.
Press Contact: (Editors Note: Artwork available upon request.)
Carmen Hughes
Ignite Public Relations
c: 650.576.6444
carmen(at)ignitepr(dot)com
Christina Nee, Handpick, Inc., http://handpick.com, +1 (415) 812-0002, [email protected]
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