When it comes to cooking, people tend to fall into two categories: There are those who love it, who will devote three hours on a Tuesday night to plating the perfect pasta dish and savoring every slurp. And then there are those who endure it for utility's sake, who know that eating is important and as much as they'd like to order in every night, appearances must be kept up and bank accounts left to mature for longer than 24 hours.
And everyone, no matter how enamored with the culinary arts, needs a night off every now and then.
Enter Andy Horvitz, a home chef who definitely falls into that first category.
"We can save customers an hour a DAY and offer healthy choices and quality that aren't available to many in the area, all wrapped up with the convenience of delivery."
Horvitz launched No Pots & Pans this November, a meal-delivery service catering to Greater Boston and some select western suburbs. The premise is simple: Horvitz and another chef cook meals – you can choose from a selection of three per week; you order; they deliver; you eat.
For him, the beauty here isn't a box full of portioned meal ingredients delivered to your door – it's the whole nutritious, interesting and ready-to-eat package, prepared in a fully licensed commercial kitchen and sent straight to your face.
"There's a lot to discuss around the decline of home cooking in an environment where people want to eat healthier and home cooking has traditionally been the healthier solution," he told me, noting that home c00king is near an all-time low in the U.S. "Time-starved professionals appreciate the convenience of Blue Apron et al., but they solve for grocery shopping and save you one hour per week. We can save customers an hour a DAY and offer healthy choices and quality that aren't available to many in the area, all wrapped up with the convenience of delivery."
Meals cost between $10 and $15. Past menu items have included lobster ravioli, chicken and fennel stew, chicken tikka masala and a harvest salad.
Right now, Horvitz is doing all the heavy lifting himself: "From menu planning, to ordering/shopping, food production, and delivery, I'm doing it all. It's a transfer of the home planning and execution required to feed a family, transferred to me," he said.
Demand has been steady and growing. He's currently cooking and delivering around 50 meals each week, growing at a rate of 10 to 20 percent. He expects to be closer to 100 by then end of this month.
"I believe I'm closing in on the required validation to raise a seed round, which will allow me to invest in marketing and scale production," he said. "With cash for growth and operations, I can build this to 1,000+ meals in just a couple months; 5,000+ in six months."
Horvitz has another goal within six months as well: getting the operation running efficiently enough that customers can order and receive a meal within 30 minutes.
And the more meals he's making, the more he's giving back.
"With every customer order," said Horvitz, "we make a cash donation to the Greater Boston Food Bank equivalent to the meal for someone in need."
Images provided.
