Here’s some food for thought.
The 164 year old, 117 Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times have cooked up a new idea, and looking at the figures, it’s likely to be a tasty one.
The company has launched a partnership with meal kit startup Chef’d, allowing viewers of the publication’s NYT Cooking website and app to order featured dishes direct to their door.
Customers will be able to order specific meals, or subscribe to the service to receive as many delivers in a week as they please.
It’s a long way from The Gray Lady’s refined past. The Times well knows that its future is entirely digital, but has been slow to act in comparison to the competition.
The move – which comes shortly after the paper reported a $14 million net loss in the first quarter of 2016 – is backed by analysis of the rapidly growing food tech industry, which has seen quarterly funding rise over 450% across the last two years.
Times-branded meals will be delivered within 24-48 hours of ordering, with kits for two priced between $19 and $39.
It’s not the first time a company has paired with Chef’d. Since its founding in 2014, the startup has established relationships with over 90 brands, 20 to 30 of which are publications. “Really, we’ve become a marketplace for other brands and companies,” said Robert Jones, Chef’d’s head of business development.
Will this innovation help lead the Times to its goal of doubling online revenue to $800 million by 2020? Time will tell.
“We remain bullish about our strategy, however, and believe that our timely pivot from traditional digital advertising towards branded content and marketing services, video and more seamlessly integrated ad formats on both mobile and desktop will deliver growth in the second half of 2016,” announced New York Times Company CEO, Mark Thompson.