The Gray Kitchen? New York Times to Offer Meal Delivery Kits

Your New York Times delivery is about to get a little more…delicious? The paper has announced a partnership with Chef’d – a meal delivery startup—to launch a meal kit program featuring recipes from New York Times’ Cooking section.

The move is a creative attempt by the paper to boost revenues as free online content continues to take market share away from traditional newspapers, many of which have already shut down or put up paywalls in order to stay in business (including the Times).

“Our audience spends a lot of time cooking at home,” Alice Ting, vice president of brand development, licensing and syndication for the Times, told Bloomberg. “So for us it was a natural area to investigate.”

The Times joins other meal delivery services like Blue Apron and Purple Carrot, the plant-based startup former Times columnist Mark Bittman left to spearhead.

“These meal kits we’re offering are just another tool to help our users become more comfortable in the kitchen,” said Amanda Rottier, product director of NYT Cooking.

According to Bloomberg, the Times has started other revenue-generating efforts in recent years that depart from traditional newspaper reporting and advertising, including “live conferences, a wine club and an online store that sells hats, shirts and other trinkets with Times logos.” The paper also runs a travel unit, “Times Journeys,” in which “tourists pay thousands of dollars to see countries like Iran or Cuba, many of which are led by Times foreign correspondents,” Bloomberg explains.

The Times anticipates its meal delivery efforts to be as big as Times Journeys, “if not bigger,” Ting said. The Times’ “other revenues,” according to Bloomberg, account for about $95 million in sales.

Chef’d, which also works with other publishers, holds exclusive relationships with more than 90 chefs, companies, and brands, with meal kits ranging in price from $19 to $39. Chief Executive Officer Kyle Ransford says the delivery service is “the last mile between the recipe and your front door.”

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Food image via Shutterstock

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