The pandemic has had consequences in countless aspects of our lives. The young Spanish startup Vegan Food Club combined with its birth in 2020 three of the trends that have experienced the greatest momentum during the health crisis: healthy eating, digitization and home delivery services.
As explained by one of its two founders, Lucas González-Guija, “there is a clear demand for greater online consumption that is connected in our case with this global change towards a more responsible diet with the environment and health represented in the plant based We were clear that this is our niche, because the penetration of digital sales in plant-based food is still at 4% compared to other segments such as online fashion, which is at 30%”. In this way, in the last quarter, the firm has managed to exceed 33,000 dishes sold, with growth of 25% from one month to the next.
The company offers an innovative service of healthy menus at home throughout the peninsula. The dishes are prepared directly in the firm’s central kitchens in Valencia under the supervision of a chef and a nutritionist who are in charge of creating balanced, appetizing and healthy dishes, always under the premise that they do not contain protein of animal origin, with 100% ingredients. % vegan or plant based and local. Its efforts are also aimed at that huge niche of consumers who, without being vegans or vegetarians, try to reduce the presence of animal products in their daily diet. Its objective is that public that does not stop growing and that is grouped under the flexitarian label.
Another of the differentiating factors of this new business model, recalls González-Guija, is that it is a brand that connects directly with the final consumer without the intervention of food delivery platforms and through a subscription model. “We are committed to having the greatest possible control of the chain and skipping the e-commerce phase with unit sales.”
At home or in the office
The mechanics are simple, since customers can opt for different online subscription modalities to receive prepared dishes at home or at the office that change every week and unsubscribe or pause the service, without any permanence, whenever they wish. . For now, they work with a monthly plan with five dishes that change weekly and another two a week, for one or two people.
“We have been operating in Spain, and in Portugal since September, and the only phase of the cycle that we do not manage directly is that of distribution, which we do with Seur. A logistics partner like this guarantees us two very important things for the brand. On the one hand , the refrigerated distribution of our product allows us not to have to pack the dishes cold, but rather vacuum and in a protective atmosphere so that they can be kept for up to two weeks in the fridge.And, on the other hand, with its fleet it guarantees that our distribution kept the CO2-neutral impact of our business activity”, explains the founder of the Vegan Food Club. This sustainable company DNA is reinforced with an electricity supplier from renewable sources and a commitment to recyclable packaging as part of its plan to become a B Corp company in 2022.
This startup’s effort to get to know its customers leads it to send them a questionnaire every Monday so that they rate the food of the previous week, draw conclusions and improve the product in a kitchen where each recipe must receive an average grade that guarantees its quality. Previously they work with a group of testers of 20 people who decide if the dish is valid or capable of improvement.
This is how a recipe book is configured with references such as Poblano lentils; mango curry; Vegetable lasagna; vegetable baked rice or pasta with mushroom sauce and tofu. After the initial launch phase that it is in right now, the company plans to incorporate an app into its services that allows its customers greater flexibility when configuring their menus, as well as expanding to France in 2022 and to Germany in 2023.
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