@fletchrichman Great question. Green Chef (as well as other meal-kit subscription companies) is solving for a different use case -- the aspiring chef who is intimidated by having to buy ingredients, find recipes and learn how to cook. A lot of our customers tried these programs and found that they were wasting many of the meals because they still didn't have enough time to cook them! Our meals are chef+nutritionist designed and fully prepared so that you can eat well and save time. We also offer the full-suite of meals, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks (e.g. healthy chia pudding) and our line of raw cold-pressed juices. We aspire to the best solution for customers who want to take all of the hassle out of eating delicious and healthy meals. Because we produce and deliver the meals locally, we are able to offer better pricing (meals start at $10) and fresher food compared to having to ship ingredients. Finally, our meals are focused on health in addition to taste, quality and variety. :)

@acefell Great answer! It wasn't clear from the landing page that the meals are fully prepared - maybe just because I assumed it was a Blue Apron competitor. Excited for you guys to come to denver.

@_jacksmith Thanks for the kind words! You should give the new service a spin (and try the juices!). :)

@sachinag I can't believe that you of all people are eating veggie these days! We do have a 1-day trial plan (https://www.thistle.co/trials). 2x a week is a good idea, but we wanted to keep things simple to start. Thanks for the feedback, we'll try to get 2x up and running in a couple of weeks.

@luisobo NYC is a great market! Hope we can get there soon. :)

@eawharton Hi Eddie. Completely agree. We did a quick test and found that on average we saved 1.5-3hrs per day by eliminating having to source / prep / cook food ourselves. Throw in nutrition / menu design and the time savings is even more! Our meals start at $10 fully delivered. We believe the best approach to nutrition is focusing on the whole dietary picture – how nutrient dense foods are rather than focusing on a single metric such as calorie counts. Calorie counts offer a very narrow – and often misleading – view of nutrition. Many foods considered “light” due to lower fat or calorie content are chalk full of chemicals, salts, sugars or sweeteners and little else. By contrast, foods like avocados, nuts & seeds have higher calorie counts but are loaded with essential vitamins, minerals, and healthy fatty acids (e.g. omega-3s and omega-6s). That said, our foods are always proportioned optimally so you don’t have to worry about over-eating. And you can rest assured that a diet full of clean, healthy, nutrient-dense foods in the right proportions will help you feel your best, reach your optimal weight, and rev up your metabolism to leave you feeling light, satiated yet energized!

@lukesbeard Thanks Luke! :)

@andrewmbenton There is! From your account, you can pause anytime and resume when you're ready with two clicks!

@siburb Thanks so much! For the photos we have to thank our absolutely AMAZING photographer @lukesbeard, a generally awesome guy who is also the guy behind the incredible Exposure (https://www.producthunt.com/tech...), Exposure New Tab (https://www.producthunt.com/tech...), and Statshot (https://www.producthunt.com/tech...)

@awchristoph Great question. Our service is actually incredibly convenient for customers that may not know where or when they can eat during the day. We deliver all of your meals for the day in the early morning (as early as 6am) and all you need to do is refrigerate, grab before you leave for the day using our thermal bag and eat when it works for you. It's a bit like having an incredibly healthy and delicious meal "packed" for you. :) People are often inconsistent in their eating behavior because of how busy they can get during the day. This means that a lot of folks grab a convenient and often unhealthy option (e.g. fast food, bag of chips) or skip meals altogether. By having our meals by your side, you are able to actually eat a chef-prepared + nutritionist designed meal when it suits your schedule. :)

How do you handle the actual delivery? If most of your deliveries are at 6am, what happens at apartments or situations where the person isn't at home?

@irawilley @awchristoph We actually have two delivery windows at the moment: 6-8a and 8a-10a. We give delivery notifications so that you know exactly when your order is arriving and when it is actually delivered. We also deliver everything in a thermal bag with ice packs designed to keep meals safe and fresh for hours so many folks have us leave with a concierge / doorman or in a safe place (e.g. porch or outside their door) and grab when they can.

@navinkulkarni Hi Navin - We think it's 'unfairly delicious' as well. :) I'm Ash and i'm the CEO of Thistle and i'm happy to answer any questions you have. We're really excited about our new platform and think it's an awesome way for people to put their nutrition on auto-pilot. We would love any feedback from the Product Hunt community on how we can make eating healthy / organic / delicious food even more convenient.

@corleyh We love talking about the sources and quality of our food! I'll get our head chef Callie on here when she gets free. We source locally (generally within 150 miles of SF), organically food as much as possible, and try to build relationships with the farms in the region. One cool thing we do in that regard - some of our farmers come and pick up our food waste (juice pulp, fruit/veggie skins, etc) to use as feed and fertilizer... full circle! We really lucked out by starting in one of the most food-rich environments on earth... there is so much amazing produce to be had within driving distance of us! But as we think about expanding to other cities, I think it'll get a lot tougher.

@rometty_ I feel GREAT about Chicago. I lived there for 5 years before moving to SF and still have my place in Logan Square... I think Chicago would be a fantastic next market for us... Will keep you posted!

@1wu platejoy seems to be offering grocery lists and mealplans. these guys make meals

@_jacksmith @1wu ah right. how does it compare to https://angel.co/farm-hill ? That's what my officemate uses in Palo Alto.

@1wu Jack Smith hit the nail on the head in that our meals are fully prepared. We also design each meal / meal day to provide the optimal amount of nutrition to make sure you stay healthy and energized. Re Farm Hill, as far as i know they aren't subscription and you have to order by a set-time the day of. We also provide meals / juices / snacks for all of your meals vs. lunch or dinner.

@acefell @1wu cool--are you quantifying nutrition in any way? my last data science project at Stanford with Palo Alto Medical Foundation did this: http://www.grellin.org with MD Lenny Lesser here in the Bay

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@pitdesi love the avoidance of food wastage! John Oliver would agree with you ;)

@nadavweinberg @pitdesi Thanks for the kind words! Food waste was an issue high on our list in deciding to pivot. Depending on the source or study, in the US we throw away roughly 30-40% of our usable food supply each year! Because our subscription model requires customers to place their weekly order prior to our food being produced, we are able to virtually eliminate excess food waste. Additionally, we are able to create meals that are higher quality and more customizable (e.g. we can accommodate most allergens). We deliver these in re-useable thermal bags which we collect back from customers. To take things further, in order to minimize food waste that is a by-product of our production (organic high quality compost), we work to donate this byproduct to local farms in order for them to use it as compost or feed. We reduce our environmental footprint while providing a service to local producers who in turn can continue to thrive. Finally, people always ask whether it’s cheaper to make the meals themselves by buying the ingredients on their own (we price our meals as low as $10 without a delivery fee). Because we are able to buy high quality ingredients in bulk, we are able to provide you a meal that is often less expensive than if you were to purchase the same ingredients yourself. Even if it is cheaper to make a meal yourself, many people end up throwing away a lot of the leftover ingredients, resulting in increased costs and a greater environmental impact.

@jakewillsmith Hi Jake - I'm Shiri, one of the founders. I'm from Boston so can't wait til we get there either! It'll be a great market - we'll keep you posted! :)

@pitdesi thanks for sharing in the context around the pricing pivot. How do you see yourself handling user acquisition for your platform going forward?