Waitrose and Mindful Chef could finally unite supermarkets with the recipe kit model

There should be an element of nervousness when a supermarket announces a tie-up with a recipe box service. After all, past attempts haven’t exactly gone well. See the failed attempt to sell HelloFresh kits in Sainsbury’s stores. Or Co-op’s abandoned click & collect trial with Gousto. Even own-brand takes on the format – like the Waitrose and Tesco in-store meal kits – have fallen flat.

Yet the latest partnership between Mindful Chef and Waitrose, which went live yesterday, feels far more promising. For starters, the brands have a similar target market: a typically affluent consumer who is willing to pay a premium for quality. Mindful Chef is also an increasingly powerful player in the recipe box arena, having secured backing from Nestlé. But most importantly, this deal won’t mess with the fundamentals of the model.

While previous attempts tried to make recipe boxes work in the store environment, this 12-week trial will do quite the opposite. Mindful Chef still takes orders from customers directly, and the boxes are delivered to their doorsteps as normal. Waitrose, in this context, acts as an additional supplier. It will provide a full-size complementary Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients product in the co-branded boxes, which could be anything from a spice mix to herbs or chopped vegetables.

The benefits for Waitrose are obvious. When recipe box customers find a favourite meal, they typically look to recreate it on a longer-term basis using supermarket ingredients. Waitrose has made itself the clear choice in this situation. Granted, the likes of chopped vegetables or a single herb could easily be bought elsewhere – but more unusual ingredients could prove a differentiating factor.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in recreating these dishes is finding the same spice mixes or pastes in the supermarkets. If Waitrose makes the more exotic items in its Cooks’ Ingredients range an integral part of the recipes – its Shaoxing Rice Wine, Massaman paste, or Nam Pla Fish Sauce, for example – it could be onto a winner. Plus, the box will come with tips on alternative ways to use some of its ingredients, which offers another opportunity to signpost to Waitrose stores.

For Mindful Chef, the rationale is perhaps slightly less clear. It’s already growing fast without the presence of a higher-profile partner. But as recipe box companies wave goodbye to the highs of lockdown-induced demand, any point of differentiation against rivals is welcome. Mindful Chef’s partnership with Wahaca late last year, which offered customers the chance to create their own Mexican dishes, proved popular. The brand power of Waitrose could prove another draw.

So don’t dismiss this trial just yet. It may turn out to be the only tie-up of its kind that actually delivers.