Working moms still want to have it all, and smart business people are trying to help them. And home cooked meals appears to be a big part of the picture.
Wireless Recipe Alerts Solve Dinner-Time Desperation Problem
One innovative idea I saw recently was a women's magazine that will send recipe ideas to your cell-phone via SMS text messaging. If you like the sounds of say... enchilada pie ... just enter the code for the ingredients. After you get home, log in to the web site for the full recipe.
Not sure what you're going to serve for dinner tonight? No problem! Get great dinner ideas – and ingredient lists to go with them – sent straight to your cellphone. Once you've registered for the program, you'll automatically receive three text-message alerts a week (click here to learn more about text messaging) suggesting quick and tasty dinner ideas.
This just works on so many great levels:
- It solves a real problem for a harried parent experiencing mealtime panic
- It gets you in touch with the customer several times a week
- Once they get to your web site, they pay for the service by casting their eyes over the paid advertising
I also loved that they explained text messaging in simple terms, and also tell you how much it will cost. See the site here.
Home Cooking in an Industrial Kitchen
Dream Dinners was the first of this new breed of service / retail concept: make a bunch of home cooked meals in a really big kitchen where you can do it quickly, stuff them in your home freezer, and voila -- fast and easy home cooking.
Whatever the merits of this approach from a time, cost or nutritional standpoint, the look of the website (above and top) says volumes about why this concept works. The little notes look like something from another generation, that had fountain-pen written recipe cards where the ink was smudged by little hands helping mom in the kitchen. It's loaded with emotion, reinforced by a simple design that evokes a (probably mythical) simpler time.
I can't imagine that this concept appeals to people who really like to cook. It's all about wanting to give your family home cooking, but not actually doing the home cooking. Or doing it much, much faster, without any of the chopping or cleaning up. But you can say you made it yourself. And the recipes reinforce this, with titles like "Mom's Macaroni and Beef".
You might actually get better taste with Lean Cuisine, but there's no emotional satisfaction in that, is there?
Technorati Tags: dream dinners, wireless recipes, customer connections
