Tech industry veterans Steven Minisini and Jennifer Chow had a choice to make when launching Nurture Life, their subscription food delivery startup for kids: remain in Silicon Valley, where they were currently based, or return to Chicago, where Chow was born and Minisini spent several years as the founder of a consulting firm.
But it was more than their affection for the Windy City that had them wanting to relocate to Chicago. If they were going to build a national meal delivery company, their production facility had to be centrally located.
We feel really strongly that Chicago is a great, great market to start a food tech company
"If we were to stay in San Francisco, there's only so much of the region we can cover with a San Francisco production facility," Chow said. "We love the people and the workforce in Chicago, and we feel really strongly that Chicago is a great, great market to start a food tech company."
So after opening a River North production facility and kitchen in March, Nurture Life officially launched in August and has begun shipping healthy, pre-cooked meals to customers throughout the Midwest. Nurture Life makes meals for babies at young as 6 months, and kids as old as 18. Parents can select from multiple meal plans, list their child's dietary preferences, and get a week's worth of meals delivered right to their door. Meals come in an insulated box and are refrigerated until they're ready to be eaten. Parents can have meals ready in minutes after warming in the microwave, stove top or oven, Chow said.
Prices range from $45 for a baby's 8-meal plan up to $119 for a kid's 10-meal plan.
"The whole idea is fresh, wholesome meals as convenient as possible for parents that just don’t always have the time to cook a full meal," Chow said.
Nurture Life is for parents that don't have time to cook, simply don't want to cook, or maybe aren't sure how to navigate the grocery aisles for healthy, organic ingredients, Chow said.
There is no shortage of food delivery startups in Chicago and across the country, but few are targeted just at children. Pak'd, a Chicago startup, delivers school lunches to a family's house, and other companies like Maple and One Potato have kids options. But Nurture Life believes its range of meals, from babies to young adults, sets it apart from the competition.
"We have a unique offering in the market. We doth have a competitor that's doing exactly what Nurture Life is doing in the market right now," said Minisini, Chow's co-founder. "We want to solve a lifestyle problem for families that are super busy and want to apply that time towards other things that are more important."
Nurture Life's founders say they're planning to expand deliveries to East Coast cities like New York, Atlanta, and DC in the coming weeks, and plan to eventually open a West Coast production facility to begin service the other half of the country.
"The opportunity is so huge," Minisini said. "We think the children’s market, which has less focus (that adult meal delivery) to start with, has a ton of headroom."
Images via Nurture Life
