Sad to see any startup die, but this was not unexpected.
I know I am but a tiny sample of the overall SF food market, but I'm squarely in the target demographic (work at home, don't like to go out to eat). I used SpoonRocket a few times, but entirely gave up on them after trying a few times. I love Sprig and order from the often. Here's why:
* SpoonRocket's meals simply weren't healthy. A lot of the folks in this space (Sprig, Munchery, etc.) are really focused on healthy food. I can call the Chinese place down the block and have an unhealthy meal delivered, but there traditionally have been very few good healthy options other than cooking yourself. SpoonRocket's food was heavy, carb-y, greasy, and just not that good.
* I know they had to do this for time efficiency/cost reasons, but the requirement that you meet the driver out at the curb was too big of a psychological barrier. I live/work in one of the (relatively rare, to be fair) SF highrises, but knowing that a SpoonRocket meal meant getting up, waiting for the elevator, going downstairs, meeting the driver, then going back upstairs - meant that I just never ordered from them (especially when Sprig will bring the meal right to my door.)
This just goes to show that in an absolute sense -- these relatively small differences might not matter (i.e. of course I'd rather go downstairs to pick up food vs. walk to a restaurant for lunch), but in the highly competitive environment where easier and healthier alternatives exist, their offering was unsustainable.
Their meals were not just unhealthy, they were off the mark entirely. For example, they had a partnership with Stouffer's. As in, reselling Stouffer's lasagna. Like the same Stouffer's frozen lasagna I can buy at Safeway that feeds 8 people. At that point I just laughed and closed my app. Why would I ever choose to pay a premium for that?
Excellent points. Honestly it's the founders fault why this happened. They ignored these obvious signs and shouldn't be surprised. It's easy to order unhealthy food. It's a pain to make healthy food.
It's also easy to see all the issues in hindsight. Perhaps at the time they thought there's a market for less-healthy-but-cheaper food, and perhaps they were right and messed up the execution...
I know I am but a tiny sample of the overall SF food market, but I'm squarely in the target demographic (work at home, don't like to go out to eat). I used SpoonRocket a few times, but entirely gave up on them after trying a few times. I love Sprig and order from the often. Here's why:
* SpoonRocket's meals simply weren't healthy. A lot of the folks in this space (Sprig, Munchery, etc.) are really focused on healthy food. I can call the Chinese place down the block and have an unhealthy meal delivered, but there traditionally have been very few good healthy options other than cooking yourself. SpoonRocket's food was heavy, carb-y, greasy, and just not that good.
* I know they had to do this for time efficiency/cost reasons, but the requirement that you meet the driver out at the curb was too big of a psychological barrier. I live/work in one of the (relatively rare, to be fair) SF highrises, but knowing that a SpoonRocket meal meant getting up, waiting for the elevator, going downstairs, meeting the driver, then going back upstairs - meant that I just never ordered from them (especially when Sprig will bring the meal right to my door.)
This just goes to show that in an absolute sense -- these relatively small differences might not matter (i.e. of course I'd rather go downstairs to pick up food vs. walk to a restaurant for lunch), but in the highly competitive environment where easier and healthier alternatives exist, their offering was unsustainable.