Meanwhile, those who say they are likely to use a subscription service for self-prepared meals also say they eat out more often (two or more times a week) than those who say they are not likely to use a meal subscription service.
While 64% of respondents were aware of meal subscription services, only 4% of the 4,636 consumers asked this question said they have tried them, with an additional 7% saying that they plan to. Just over half of those polled* (54%) said they were not interested in using such services.
Additional insights from CivicScience include:
- Women and Millennials are slightly more likely to use these types of services. However, women and those in the Generation X age bracket are more likely to be aware of them.
- City-dwellers are more likely to use these services, but those who live in cities and suburbs are equally likely to have heard of such services.
- Americans with a household income of at least $100k are the most likely to indicate they would use in-home meal delivery services.
- Adults interested in fast food menu items featuring local ingredients are more likely to be interested in these services.
- Amazon Prime Members who use the service at least monthly are the most likely to use a subscription service for self-prepared meals [although CivicScience doesn’t provide any pints of comparison].
- Other lifestyle habits such as buying locally grown food, shopping at Whole Foods, and seeking out new food all correlate with using these services.
“At this time, our results don’t indicate that subscription services for self-prepared meals are taking business from grocery stores. What our data does reveal is that those who are likely to use these services are two times more likely to go out to eat or order take-out,” said CivicScience research analyst Meaza Solomon.
*Methodology: CivicScience conducts polls (via opt-in multiple choice questions) across hundreds of websites. The polling above was done in early August with men and women aged over 18. The number of respondents varied by question (see graphics for exact figures) but ranged from 923 to 4,701 consumers.