Editor's note: Check out my first experience with Scratch DC by clicking through the photos below. The sweet & sour pineapple shrimp stir fry and chocolatey cookie goodness afterwards aroused my taste buds in a way I never imagined possible.
Growing up I was a complete and total mama's girl. I could be found day in and day out tugging on my mom's pristine apron, begging her to let me stir her squash soup concoction or fold over the last layer of crust over her infamous apple pie that left all who tasted it inquiring for seconds. I owned the cliche title of the woman in the kitchen, proudly squaring off my territory consisting of crock pots, whisks, and of course, the cutest most vintage looking Julia Child-esque oven mitts in existence.
As the years went by and college came and went, I lost my fervor for, my true passion for cooking among the numerous packages of ramen that haunted my kitchen cabinets. With a young professional budget, I could not longer afford the everyday produce I was used to consuming while at home. Absurd prices were intimidating and the time it took to create the masterful meal my mom so perfectly put together on a nightly basis became too time consuming for me after a long, wearisome day at work.
Then came along Scratch DC.
A young startup straight out of the nation's capitol, Scratch DC was developed by Ryan Hansan in August 2012 as a way to fill a need, a void that he himself saw both as a college student and again as a budding professional within the District.
He turned to one side of his fridge full of beer and half-eaten pasta sauce and then to the other side filled to the brim with moldy, barely touched ingredients. Hansan just couldn't find that happy medium when it came to food shopping, never able to take advantage of his creative side because of how expensive and ultimately wasteful his adventurous recipe seeking habits came to be.
Behold, the idea.
Inspired by his talented mother, Hansan set out to find a way to create both simple and tantalizing recipes for others like him and boy was he successful.
Here's how it works:
We make making amazing meals easy. Each day we create a unique two serving bundle of fresh, locally sourced, organic ingredients that are chopped, measured, marinated, packed with an easy to follow recipe and delivered to your door ready to cook - saving you the time, money and food that's often wasted when making a great meal at home.
If that ain't customer service, I don't know what is.
Today I had the great fortune to be able to talk to the man behind the best thing since mac n' cheese in a tub, Ryan Hansan. He took the time to share with me the best kept secrets behind Scratch DC and what the future holds for the up and coming startup.
Where do you purchase your ingredients from?
We are small enough to buy some of our ingredients from Whole Foods, but our produce comes from mostly farming co-operatives including Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, Fells Point Meats in Maryland, and Murray's Naturals in Pennsylvania.
As we grow and gets closer and closer towards the winter, it will be pretty interesting to figure out where to get our locally grown produce since not much grows around here during January and February, but we'll be working with Alberts Organics, one of the oldest and most trusted distributors in the U.S., to give us a hand.
Where do you deliver to?
We deliver to most of D.C., but there are defined areas online. I will say that 90 percent of the time we are able to accommodate people even if they are outside of our parameters.
After the winter months will will be working with a pedicab company to do most of our deliveries in a more green and earth-friendly way.
How do you come up with your recipes?
Most of the recipes are my mothers that have been passed down for generations and others are from other family members, my girlfriend, as well as myself. We have been search for the past year, tweaking and testing recipes along the way. We're really confident that anything that we make will absolutely blow your socks off. Plus, they only take around 20 to 30 minutes to make!
What has your favorite Scratch DC recipe been thus far?
Pan-seared duck breast with red wine reduction and creamy mushroom risotto. The chicken tikka masala, today's meal (hint hint nudge nudge), is the best Indian food I've ever had.
What are the prices like?
All meals are meant for two people with the price running from around $21 up to $27 - based on food cost though. We guarantee that it's cheaper than what you would have to pay in a grocery store to buy all of the individual ingredients on your own.
Who are you catering to?
Young busy professionals like myself. We've mostly stayed true to that with college kids catching onto the new Scratch DC trend, but we've also had an 80-year-old woman try us out as well as new parents overwhelmed with their babies. I'd say our usual buyers are between the ages of 25 to 35-years-old though. Did I mention that our retention rate is above 80 percent?
What about nutritional information, is that available?
It will be! We have a nutritionist on board. We will most likely begin publishing nutritional information right after Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I hear you have a $50 meal bundle available. That sounds too good to be true...
It's true! My mom is helping out making her amazing gravy with homemade chicken stock (Mmm).
What does the future hold for Scratch DC?
We hope to be able to expand all over D.C. and then in other cities, picking up some new employees to add to our group of four along the way.
We also aim to begin focusing on creating more fancy meals instead of easier foods like buffalo chicken tacos. There's a food movement and we want to proceed ahead with the times.
If you haven't tried out Scratch DC yet, order your first bundle today. I speak from experience, this is one of the most useful everyday startups I've ever had the pleasure of learning about. Not only is it fun and easy, but also satisfyingly delicious. A+, Scratch DC, A+.
