It's no secret that the hospitality industry has been struggling as a result of COVID-19. Beverage startup Bevi has laid off 30 employees, and corporate catering company Alchemista furloughed 90 percent of its staff. The crisis has forced many hospitality startups to make a tough choice— pivot their business models, or risk layoffs and further economic troubles.
HUNGRY, a catering company that connects top chefs with businesses looking for high-quality food offerings, has decided to shift its business model to at-home food deliveries during the pandemic. The service is called HUNGRY @ Home, and users can order meals for up to eight people, cooked by local chefs and delivered right to their doorstep.
"Rather than do what everybody else is doing in the food space, just sort or hunkering down and trying to survive, we said, let's try to innovate our way out of this," said Jeff Grass, chairman and CEO of HUNGRY.
"We came up with the idea for HUNGRY @ Home a couple weeks ago, and the team's been super hard at work nights and weekends building it out," said Grass. The team launched Hungry @ Home on March 26 in six different cities— Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta and Austin.
In its largest fundraising effort to date, HUNGRY closed a $20 million funding round in early March, with high profile investors including Kevin Hart, Jay-Z and former Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb.
"We were planning to roll out in 23 cities across the country, and then three weeks ago, the world got a bit crazy," said Grass. "We knew we had to leverage the fact that we've got this network of amazing chefs who cook really great food, and we've got tremendous logistics and delivery capabilities with food safety trained delivery captains in every city."
Compared to the meals that HUNGRY delivers to large corporate gatherings, HUNGRY @ Home is offering family style meals that arrive chilled, allowing the customer to heat up the food at their convenience. The food is delivered in temperature-controlled bags, and delivery drivers leave the meals at the customer's door to ensure contactless delivery. Delivery drivers are also required to change gloves between each delivery.
Rather than laying off employees, HUNGRY has been able to repurpose its existing staff with this project. "It's keeping our team employed and working, and our chefs having a consistent flow of income," said Grass.
Under its normal business model, HUNGRY donates one meal to someone in need for every two meals purchased. HUNGRY @ Home will continue these donations, giving four meals to families in need for every meal ordered.
In a difficult time for the hospitality industry, many startups will likely be faced with similar challenges.
