Taking Friction Out Of The Kitchen With Subscription Kits

For those without much culinary experience, eCommerce innovators are assembling “how-to” kits to help teach them how to bake. Whisk Takers, in one case, offers kits with non-perishable ingredients and step-by-step recipes for baked goods that consumers can purchase through subscriptions or a la carte. Co-founder and CEO Dominick DeFalco told PYMNTS that he started the company with his business partner to make baking as simple as possible.

The idea was to eliminate the need for consumers to search for recipes or hunt through the aisles of the grocery store, while providing them with the sense of accomplishment that comes with making something from scratch. Whisk Takers offers kits for all sorts of baked goods, with plans ranging from chocolate lovers to nut lovers and gluten-free. Recipes run the gamut from pistachio cupcakes to smores brownies, as well as double-chocolate cookies and chocolate hazelnut cake.

The Kits

The kits come with pre-measured and labeled ingredients to create each recipe. “We simplified everything down,” noted DeFalco. Although the ingredients are non-perishable, many of the recipes call for perishable dairy ingredients such as butter or eggs that consumers provide. For example, the maple pecan brownies require an egg, one-third cup of butter, maple syrup and a baking pan. The kit for that recipe provides flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar and pecans.

The recipes themselves have jokes and puns on them. DeFalco did standup comedy for a few years, and wanted to bring levity to the baking process.

While the kits were initially centered around treats for humans, Whisk Takers has expanded its offerings to also include a product for man’s best friend: dog treats that consumers can give to their pets, which come with ingredients such as rolled oats and turmeric. The dog treats, which are 100 percent organic and gluten-free, come in chicken and beef flavors. Dog owners can purchase those kits in single packs, two-packs and three-packs through the company’s website.

The Market

Whisk Takers says children as young as five or six years old can put together the kits on their own, all the way up to older adults baking with their grandkids. Consumers can buy the kits individually or can sign up for a subscription. The company offers prepaid plans of three or six months, as well as a month-to-month option. According to the PYMNTS Subscription Commerce Index, all of the top-performing merchants offer the plan feature. The company has also had consumers who purchased a three-month subscription, fell in love with a particular recipe and then purchased that recipe on an a la carte basis.

The eCommerce approach to kit sales comes as the concept of making something by hand is coming back into fashion, noted DeFalco. He added that he would like to become “the Blue Apron” of baking, and “the brand that everybody knows” that is in everyone’s kitchen.

DeFalco also pointed out that Whisk Takers offers a therapeutic experience that one can’t get from baking pre-made cookies or buying frozen cookie dough to put on a baking pan. The company has some grand ideas in terms of expanding its equipment and other materials to make cooking more fun, homey and easy, DeFalco said, with the aim of simplifying baking through recipe and ingredient kits.