Feedback wanted on idea to help families get cooking

[MBAStudent]

Hi,

I am part of a team of students from Imperial college working on a business project as part of our MBA studies. We have developed a business idea that we would love to get feedback on. It's called Little Foodies' Club, and this is what it's all about;

“Little Foodies’ Club helps get families cooking. Every month we deliver everything you need to cook a family meal with your kids. Each box contains all the ingredients to make straightforward, fuss-free recipes that the whole family will enjoy.

Kids love getting involved with our hand-illustrated recipes, and parents appreciate the activity kits that keep little hands busy when they’re not cooking.

With a child-friendly kitchen utensil in each box, and collectible badges to iron onto their official Little Foodies’ Club apron, every child wants to be part of our club.”

I've attached a couple of images to show what our recipe cards and activities (this one is a colouring in picture) look like.

What we would really like to know is whether this sounds like something you would buy, and if so how much you would expect to pay?

Really appreciate any feedback.

[imsorryiasked]

It's not something I would buy as we cook anyway, but if you're looking for feedback:

Good idea in principle.
If you're using "normal" store cupboard ingredients then there is no reason to provide these as part of the box. This would actually put me off buying as I would see it as paying "£x" for something I already had. Whereas if you market it as a fun cooking activity with equipment, recipes and ideas you are providing me with something new.
I found the writing on the recipe card a bit hard to read (think step 2 may have words in wrong order?), children would presumably struggle too so not very conducive to them being involved.
I don't think contents to cook one meal a month is enough, and would prefer perhaps 6 or 8 recipes, because if you want people to take this up they need to do it more often.
Don't know how much I would pay, but I guess you would be looking at similar price to magazines which come with "gifts"?

[cdtaylornats]

A graze box is under £5 and I would see that as your price point.

More important is delivery, it would have to be capable of being delivered to an empty house, no ingredients that can go off if it's delayed by a day.

How much of the cost is delivery? Essentially the cost of delivery and production have to be overcome by the value placed on the added value items.

How many kids and adults? Are you aiming at the "standard" two adults and two kids?

[Onykahonie]

I apologise in advance for negativity, but you did ask!

I work with children and families. The families we want to 'get cooking' will often have little experience of cooking from scratch and may have basic literacy skills. A group cooking club/class would be a better introduction to cooking for these families.

If you were buying ingredients for a group, the cost would be much lower. Buying ingredients for one meal and one family would not be economical for most families. As mentioned before, delivery and storage of fresh/frozen/chilled ingredients would impact on the cost.
I just can't see that families with the money to purchase your product, would spend money on it rather than accessing recipes online, in recipe books etc. and buying their own ingredients.

The cards you have posted images of are difficult to read; the font and colour in particular, plus the use of capital letters on the children's colouring page. We teach young children that capital letters are just for proper nouns and the start of sentences. I don't like the sketchy colouring sheet.

I think that you do have a good basic idea. We all want families to cook and eat good, healthy food. If you changed your market to toddler groups/playgroups/nurseries/primary schools/cooking clubs etc. rather than individual families, you might be able to sell it as an educational resource. I would want to be able to download a good range of printable sheets to laminate. Maybe seasonal, for different cultural festivals or age ranges.

The font would need to be readable in large, clear print, so that younger children and parents with lower literacy skills could access it. Illustrated recipe cards and a photo of the finished meal would be useful, plus a list of ingredients and specific dietary options (vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free etc.)

Utensils can be bought really cheaply in pound stores etc, but I like the idea of badges/stickers or certificates for those would attend the classes and complete a course.

I think I might have a business proposition myself!

[TwerkingSpinster]

Id scrap the whole 'sending food' idea.....but I LOVE the apron\badge idea!! How about having a monthly utensil gift on a 'kids cooking course' type magazine, that builds up from basics (wooden spoons) for learning the simplest recipes and kitchen methods, up to biscuit cutters and pastry crimpers at the end of the course when more challenging things are attempted. Then the household builds up a good cooking utensil set,and the adults (via helping the kids) learn too.

[emwithme]

You need to work on your grammar. It's "my friends and me " (because you wouldn't say "colour I in" [/pedant]

The recipe card has words in the wrong order, too (very noticeable on step 2). It's also really hard to read because of the font/colour choice. It's very "funky" but not practical - for recipes it needs to be simple, easy to read while doing something else (cooking!)

It would only work for "naice" MC families who can afford to subscribe - and those families generally have the cooking skills/inclination to bake with their children, rather than actually targetting those who basic cookery skills may help; and those people would already have the "storecupboard" ingredients or wouldn't mind going to the shops to buy things for a "project".

I went to a private school and my mum was frequently enraged about our "Home Ec" lessons teaching us how to make cakes/biscuits/scones rather than teaching us how to make food that we would be able to eat at uni (her idea was "101 recipes that use an egg/cheese/minced beef").

Also, I think that multi-child families would have to buy two or three or however many DC they have (identical) subscriptions each month because otherwise there would be riots over who wore the apron or got the colouring in/activity sheet (or is that just all the more-than-one-child families I know?)