The Philippine-based group, which is best known for its cloud kitchen concept Kraver’s Canteen, is harnessing smart kitchen technology and low-waste processes to set its meal plan delivery services apart

“Who’s feeding the people?” This is a question that Victor Lim, the co-founder of Philippine-based food company Kraver’s Group, wants to be the answer to. Lim’s company is best known for its fast-growing cloud kitchen concept, Kraver’s Canteen.

Now, the group has a new venture: meal plan delivery. It has acquired The Six Pack Chef (TSPC), a healthy meal plan delivery service started by Karl Boo and Katherine Campos in 2014.

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“To be honest, the behaviour with meal delivery plans is a little unusual,” admits Lim. “So many people are used to [on-demand delivery]. They go on Grab and buy something [in the moment]. But with TSPC, we have a cut-off time for processing orders. Customers have to order one and a half days in advance.”

“This behaviour takes time to be learned, but once you get used to it, it’s very sticky. In that way, the [healthy food] market is a very specific target but has high retention.”

ABOVE Victor Lim, founder and CEO of Kraver’s Group (Photo: Wesley Villarica)

Victor Lim, founder and CEO of Kraver’s Group (Photo: Wesley Villarica)

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Kraver’s Group also has its own meal plan delivery service, Krave Daily, which dips into Kraver’s recipe books and differentiates itself from the competition through price point.

“We accessed all the recipes and products that Kraver’s has developed over the years, converted our favourites into the meal plan format and marked prices down to offer a sustainable lifestyle service,” says Lim.

With large hikes over the past year, daily on-demand deliveries have become unsustainable for most budgets. Krave Daily, which offers meals for as low as Php150, aims to address this.

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ABOVE Chickpea salad by The Six Pack Chef (Photo: The Six Pack Chef)

ABOVE Banh mi sandwich by The Six Pack Chef (Photo: The Six Pack Chef)

Chickpea salad by The Six Pack Chef (Photo: The Six Pack Chef)

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Like Kraver’s Canteen, TSPC and Krave Daily use the group’s proprietary technology. “We can’t serve the same meal too often in a delivery plan, so there are more than 1,000 different products in our database,” says Lim. “And there are different factors to these: different recipes, cuisines, types of starches and ingredients. What makes us unique in comparison to other food operations is that we consolidate our orders and convert them to instructions.”

“Our smart tech tells us exactly what to do and how much of what ingredient we need. It tells us how many kilos of [an ingredient] to buy the next day, how many need to be sliced, how many need to be diced, how many need to be roasted. It helps us reduce waste and makes what we do operationally feasible.”

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ABOVE Chefs preparing meals for delivery (Photo: The Six Pack Chef)

Chefs preparing meals for delivery (Photo: The Six Pack Chef)

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At the facility producing the meals for TSCP and Krave Daily, quality, hygiene and safety are carefully monitored, which is why temperatures are controlled and food is handled in only one direction.

“If [the food] passes one station, it cannot go back. To ensure quality, hygiene and safety, everything follows a one-way flow,” explains Lim. A handful of chefs and cooks carefully weigh and distribute portion sizes in the kitchen. This group is separated from other chefs in charge of cooking and meal prep; each task is done at a specific station according to the needs necessitated by the food.

Each meal from TSPC or Krave Daily comes with a detailed list of nutritional information. Fats, proteins, sodium, carbohydrates and calories are listed alongside specific ingredients used. The group’s policy on transparency has boded well for them and their consumers, as has the flexibility that comes with ordering from both TSPC and Krave Daily.

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From both brands’ websites, consumers can order a pre-prepared meal plan or build their own meal plan. “Our goal is to be able to adapt to any consumer’s diet needs,” says Lim. “They should be able to say, ‘This is what I want’ and we should be able to give that to them.”

Aside from meal plan delivery, Lim also shares that Kraver’s Group is looking into more experiential dining opportunities in the coming months.

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