CuisineBox

Project CuisineBox

At CuisineBox, our mission is to bring chef designed authentic Asian and Asian fusion recipes to your home dining table. With our carefully designed step-by-step instruction and quality fresh ingredients, we are confident that we can guide every Asian cuisine lover to cook a healthy, restaurant quality meal in less than 30 minutes.

We have observed some food industry trends and issues with the current Asian restaurant industry

The trends – rising popularity of a healthy diet

People around the world are more conscious about their health than ever, and this is especially true in America. Americans are spending more money on healthy all-natural or organic foods for their family. In 2014, 84% of US consumers bought organic food, and as much as 45% of Americans bought organic food at least once a month. 

The annual sales figure has been breaking records since 2003. It has surpassed the $35 billion mark in 2014. Organic food sales now represent almost 5% of the total U.S. food sales. The organic food sales were forecasted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of about 14% during 2013 to 2018.

The trends – rising popularity of fast casuals vs. fast foods (i.e. fresh quality food vs. the less healthy choices)

Although less healthy food sources are still grabbing a large share of the total food catering market, a new breed of restaurant segment, fast casual restaurants, are gaining market share in the restaurant industry. 

Fast casual restaurants are positioned in between fast food restaurants and casual dining restaurants. They emphasize in offering customized, fresh, natural and often locally sourced high quality ingredients, served in an upscale and inviting ambiance. They usually have minimum table service and typical cost per meal ranges from $10 to $15, versus $3 to $6 charge by fast food restaurants.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread, Potbelly, and Shake Shack are some of the well-known names in the sector. For the broader industry performance, the top 150 fast casual chains had a year-over-year increase of 13% in 2014. 

The trends – rising popularity of the meal kit sector

A herd of meal kit companies have already been disrupting the old brick-and-mortar restaurant business model in recent years. They have crafted out a new segment and let people to enjoy home cooking again. 

A research report projected the meal kit industry to grow between $3 billion and $5 billion by 2020. We do see a big opportunity in entering the meal kit industry.

The issue – Asian restaurant industry and its image

Asian cuisines are some of the most popular cuisines in the U.S., with more than 50,000 restaurants across the country. Chinese cuisine, being one of the top 3 cuisines in terms of familiarity, trial and frequency of eating (Italian and Mexican are the other two,) has by far, the most outlets. With more than 35,000 locations, Chinese restaurants are indeed very influential in the U.S.

Being the Asian restaurant industry leader, Chinese restaurants, in general, showed incapability in providing adequate support in promoting real Asian dining experience. While a small number of Chinese restaurants in the major Asian populated areas are providing satisfying overall dining experience. The majority of them are actually falling quite far behind in terms of food quality, authenticity and innovations. The image of Asian cuisines has been damaged over the course by these poorly run businesses. 

And that’s the reason we want to come in – to disrupt the current Asian restaurant industry environment. 

At CuisineBox, we have planned to launch in NYC, where the battle is fiercest, to validate our idea of creating unique and delicious, beautiful and colorfully refreshing meals that every Asian food lover has long been hoping for. We believe we can succeed in this tough battleground, and improve the Asian cuisines’ reputation with our creative authentic recipes.

Every dollar can help us to bring better food to you and other food lovers! Please share our campaign far and wide; we won’t get there without your help today! 

Please visit our website – www.cuisine-box.com – if you want to know more about us.  

Rewards: produce postcards, T-shirts and to kick start the pilot program

Marketing: increase social media exposure; and run local marketing campaigns

Facility: depends on the amounts funded – rent a spacious commercial kitchen to expand the operations to fulfill the demand of the pilot program; or, if we have a truly exceptional raise, we can acquire a small kitchen to maintain a stable production

Head Count: increase the number of kitchen staffs to meet demand, and hire a marketing content manager to lead marketing efforts

Source: ICNW