Methodology wants its consumers to feel creative, artistic, and proud when preparing its meal kits, says Julie Nguyen, founder of the meal prep service designed with sustainable ingredients and packaging.
“We don’t want to create a completely soulless experience where you’re just popping something hideous into a microwave, and it’s purely functional,” Julie says. “There’s an artistry to it.”
Methodology’s meals are delivered in glass jars, a decision that Julie says came for several reasons.
“I want people to open (the refrigerator) up and be able to see all of the beautiful rainbow-colored foods that are going to help you feel amazing today, and they’re going to taste yummy,” she says. “Also, glass jars are amazing at keeping food really, really fresh.”
The same care and dedication go into the food’s ingredients too.
“It’s all about using whole, unprocessed foods, she says. “We don’t have any gluten. We don’t have any refined flours. We don’t use any wheat. We don’t use refined sugars. Basically (we) avoid refined carbohydrates. We don’t use dairy because so many people don’t realize they have food sensitivities to dairy until they stop eating it.”
That mission can have its challenges, Julie says. Because of the meals’ costs, providing value is paramount.
“From the moment people get to the website to the moment they’ve eaten their last bite of food and are returning the jars to us, it needs to be seamless,” she says. “To do something so complicated in a seamless way – in a world that’s very labor-intensive – we’ve had to build custom proprietary technology that makes the lives of our chefs and warehouse workers easier.”
The price point is probably the most talked-about challenge, says Julie, who admits she’s gotten some hate mail that she’s creating meals that most people can’t afford.
“Right now, I just want to create the best possible product that’s in line with my values, and it just costs what it costs,” she says. “I cannot build a product out of alignment with my values. I wouldn’t even want to even run that business.”
Future plans at Methodology include developing curated food experiences designed for “health milestones,” she says. Those could consist of an upcoming wedding, a new baby, a relationship change, and more. The curated meals would be more targeted with specific goals.
“There is no right one way to eat, but there are different ways you can eat more effectively based on different goals,” Julie says. “I want to take Methodology to the next level where it’s very targeted based on what you want to achieve with nutrition.”
In Part 2, Julie talks about:
* The artistry of meal prep.
* Why the meals are presented in glass jars.
* Why the meal kits are dairy-free.
* The challenges of providing value in a labor-intensive space.
* The debate over the meals’ cost.
* Future business plans, including curated meal experiences.
* Words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs.
Join Ramon Vela and Julie Nguyen as they break down the inside story on The Story of a Brand.
For more on Methodology, visit: https://www.gomethodology.com/
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