Day 1 of Cocina

Introduction

I started doing customer interviews to uncover not only the habits of why people choose to cook at home versus eating out at a restaurant versus getting take or deliver, but also the motivator of the decisions they choose. Further, I wanted to uncover what they enjoy about their eating habits, and what they don’t like. I hope that I can find a solution that combines the positive aspects of eating, mute the negative aspects, and be a part of the potential customer’s decision-making process. What follows are key insights of all of the interviews and details of each interview.

Exec Summary:

· Cooking at home satisfies health, and cost needs. Eating out fulfills social and variety needs.

· The importance of convenience varies depending on the ability and enjoyment of cooking. With more ability and enjoyment, time will be made for cooking.

· Cocina would be tried initially as an experience, but would need to provide enough value for its price to retain customers

Brenda Chew

Key Insights:

· Environmental factor important

· Partner currently does all of the cooking for her already

· She would likely use Cocina as a social experience

Demographics/Behaviors:

· Age 28

· Female

· Sr. Manager in an office

· Hobbies include painting, rock climbing, hiking, cycling, fitness classes

Brenda has never been much of a cook and describes it as a nuisance. She says “like a lot of millennials” she wants what is convenient, and wants whatever is there. She eats meals made at home a lot because her partner cooks a lot. However, her partner cooks a lot of food catered to his dietary preferences instead of Brenda’s. Their thoughts on Blue Apron is that they would try it, but it is very time intensive. Further, Blue Apron is very wasteful in how much package waste there is, which is a disincentive to try.

She is satisfied with her current household situation, and would only try Cocina as a social experience. Not necessarily as a way to learn how to cook or as an alternative to her partner’s food or to meal prep herself.

Daniela Rodriguez

Key Insights

· Someone who enjoys cooking will make time to do so, and would not list convenience as an issue with cooking

· Cooking at home is to satisfy needs of health and cost while eating out is to satisfy needs of variety

· If variety was addressed, Cocina would be an experience, but would be a repeat if pricing and convenience was right

Demographics/Behaviors:

· Age 27

· Female

· Student

· Hobbies include cooking, Netflix, trying new restaurants, hanging out with friends

Daniela brings food to school and eats at home 5 or 6 times a week depending on the week. Her motivation to cook food and eat homemade food is mainly to eat healthy, followed by saving money. Also, though she makes time to cook often because she enjoys it. Some of the problems though with cooking at home is that sometimes she doesn’t have the time or energy to do so, and the chore of going to the grocery store. Sometimes she tries to look for new ideas, but doesn’t want to think about it or is not innovative enough. When she goes out to eat, it’s mainly driven by trying new things, satisfy cravings, or to be social. However, when she does she feels she’s eating less healthy options and sometimes feels there’s not much control about the food she wants to eat. Finally, she’s never done Blue Apron or other type of meal packages like that as she perceives it as more expensive than something that she cooks.

For her to experience Cocina she would need it to solve her variety issue, where the meal prep would provide a variety food instead of a single meal. She would try it at least once for the experience, but to keep her as a returning customer it would have to be priced right and be convenient for her schedule.

Patricia Rivera

Key Insights

· For someone who does not cook as often, teaching cooking is important

· Convenience is an important factor that drives her dining choices

Demographics/Behaviors:

· Age 27

· Female

· Student

· Hobbies include literature, sports, fitness classes

Patricia mostly does delivery and takeout for her meals instead of cooking at home. The main motivator for this is the lack of effort and the convenience this option brings. She views her time as valuable. However, she dislikes the cost associated with delivery. As for going out to eat, she does so three or four times per week, mostly on the weekend. This behavior is driven by social needs and the need for delicious food. While she does pay more for eating out, she believes the prices are to be expected (you get what you pay for). She does cook at home though, 3 or 4 times a week mostly driven by cost. She would like to cook more if she knew how to. She does subscribe to Blue Apron twice a month, and she enjoys the fact that she doesn’t have to think about the ingredients, the ingredients are fresh, and the recipes are easy to follow; however, she does not like the price, which is too high for something you have to cook yourself, the portions that are sometimes way off (either way too much or way too little), and how not eco-friendly Blue Apron is. The main motivator for deciding between cooking, delivery/takeout, or eating out is convenience, followed by price, followed by social needs.

Patricia would want to try Cocina and would return based on how much she learns so that she can replicate the recipe later. The reason why she would try Cocina in the first place would be to fulfill a social need, for the meal prep, and then for the knowledge.

Bianca Lopez

Key Insights

· Tries to make cooking efficient by practicing meal prep, but dislikes the amount of time it takes to do meal prep

· Health and cost are important drivers of cooking at home while social needs and variety drives eating out

· Cocina’s appeal is the ability to teach her to cook more recipes followed by social needs.

Demographics/Behaviors:

· Age 29

· Female

· Unmarried

· Student

· Hobbies include sports, traveling, fitness classes

Bianca eats at home as often as she can. The main motivator behind this behavior is healthiness, followed by cost, followed by the fact that she likes what she cooks. She also practices meal prep where she will cook 2–3 times a week, but each cooking session will produce 3–4 meals. A drawback though, is she doesn’t like the time it takes, the limitations of her kitchen that forces her to go grocery shopping often, and also that she sometimes gets tired of the same recipes she cooks. When eating out, her main motivator is the fact that she wants to eat something different followed by social needs. Time is not a factor when going out because if she’s able to go out, then she has free time. She estimates she spends $30 per meal at a restaurant, but believes she pays for the service, food, experience, and to hang out with friends, which she believes is worth the price. Her choice of eating out or cooking at home is based on convenience, cost, then what food she has (food at home is a sunk cost so feels free), and finally health (she usually eats healthy when eating out or cooking at home).

Bianca would try Cocina because it would teach her new recipes, but would return if the price justifies the recipes she is learning. If she is a return customer she could see her doing this once a month. Her main drivers for being a customer would be to learn something new, then social needs, then the fact that food is not as expensive as eating out or takeout/delivery. Her one reservation is the ability to coordinate with her friends on attending Cocina sessions.