Wallace Wong, a fitness guru and chef who has competed in several TV cooking shows, has partnered with former Uber Eats executive Ian Weng to open a new frozen-meal delivery service in Toronto.
Spatula Foods, which offers flash-frozen meals developed by local chefs, joins a growing roster of frozen meal delivery services that are seeking to win consumers over with their convenience and quality. Spatula touts easy-to-prepare meals that can be ready in 10 minutes, which is “at least three times faster than a meal kit and about four times quicker than delivery apps,” Weng said in a statement.
The launch follows a recent round of investment in which Spatula received $1.5 million in pre-seed funding, led by Global Founders Capital. Other investors include Panache Ventures and Loyal VC, along with angel investors who include the former co-CEO of HelloFresh U.S. and senior executives at Goodfood.
Spatula’s combination of quality and convenience “are carving out a new category in the foodservice sector with tremendous runway for growth,” said Alex McIssac, partner, Global Founders Capital, in a statement.
In addition to recipes created by Wong, Spatula also features dishes from other well-known Canadian chefs, including Roman Avril, a Chopped Canada finalist and a former guest judge on Canada’s Top Chef; Eric Chong, winner of Masterchef Canada, and social media culinary influencers Eugene Wong and Ryan Hinkson. Dishes range from Avril’s French-influenced Braised Beef Bourguignon with Pearl Onions and Pomme Purée to Hinkson’s Southern-style Honey Bourbon Chicken with Cajun Dirty Rice and Escovitch Pickle.
Prices start at about $11.49 per plate, and average orders are expected to be about $100, Spatula said.
Weng said he got the idea for Spatula while pursuing his MBA in France, where flash-frozen gourmet meals are popular.
“Our meals are specially engineered so you can't detect they were previously frozen,” said Wong. “Nothing is compromised through the flash-freezing process.”
Other companies that have emerged in the chef-driven, frozen-meal delivery space include New York-based Ipsa Provisions, which recently secured the backing of celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, co-founder of Gramercy Tavern in New York City and chef-owner of foodservice group Crafted Hospitality.
“What’s really exciting about Ipsa is that they are just creating high, high quality food that’s well-sourced, properly prepared, and there’s finally a company that cares about what goes into the freezer before it comes out,” Colicchio said in a video on Ipsa’s website. “This is really re-engineering the idea of what frozen food can be.”
Ipsa was co-founded by Joshua Brau and Micah Fredman, who previously had cooked at several top New York restaurants, including Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park.
“We started Ipsa to help people get delicious food on the table with a minimum of effort, and we realized that the freezer was the best way to do that,” said Brau.
Several subscription-based frozen-meal delivery companies have been offering frozen meals nationwide for some time. Often these focus on providing dishes that meet the demands of specific diets, such as vegan or gluten-free. Mosaic, for example, offers frozen plant-based meals, while The Good Kitchen allows customers to filter meals based on paleo, keto, primal, and Whole 30 diets.
Restaurants have also increasingly jumped on the frozen meal delivery trend, which has provided a source of additional revenues for many during the pandemic. Meal-delivery platform Goldbelly, for example, last year said it raised $100 million in funding after its sales grew by more than 300 percent in 2020. The company provides logistics and nationwide exposure for restaurants to market their products, which are shipped directly from their kitchens.
Several restaurants have begun offering a limited menu of their most popular frozen items through Goldbelly and other platforms, often appealing to consumers with specific dietary preferences or to customers who have relocated and miss their local favorites.
Native Foods, for example, a plant-based restaurant chain with locations in Illinois, Colorado, and California, said this week that it is partnering with ordering platform Tastes of Chicago to offer its frozen, plant-based Original Wellington, along with vegan dessert options, for the upcoming Easter holiday. It is the second time the restaurant is offering its frozen version of the Original Wellington, which is made with steak-style seitan and other fruit- and vegetable-based ingredients, after launching it last year for Thanksgiving. It is also available from individual Native Foods restaurant locations.
Related: Frozen Meal Delivery Concept Gains Traction; Convenience, Comfort, Plant-Forward Drive Frozen Food Sales.