Food delivery companies are offering healthy, affordable and gourmet meal options for children.
The New Luncher, an online lunchbox service for school children, was founded last month by expatriate Catherin Lesselin, 42, a French citizen with Vietnamese heritage. The New Luncher presents itself as Asia’s first online lunchbox service for school children.
The meals are cooked from scratch daily, packed and delivered to schools in time for lunch. There are three meal options – Western, Asian and Vegetarian – and the menu changes every day with new recipes every month. These lunches are created, cooked and prepared by Chef Emmanuel Stroobant, 49, and his team of chefs. Stroobant is the chef-owner of a fine-dining French restaurant Saint Pierre at One Fullerton and also manages several other food-and-beverage brands under the Emmanuel Stroobant Group with his wife.
Lesselin was inspired to create The New Luncher after reading up on nutrition and was horrified to learn that her children had a shorter lifespan if they consumed good that contained pesticides and growth hormones. Hence she hoped to “feed children well and give them access to good food.” In June last year, she discontinued her line of womenswear Lespard to concentrate fully on her lunchbox idea.
Between June and November last year, she spoke to parents, doctors and health experts and came to the conclusion that there was a demand for such services.
In November, after lunch at Saint Pierre, she decided to pitch her business idea to chef Stroobant who agreed in 15 minutes. Chef Stroobant says he agreed to partner Mrs Lesselin because her mission resounded with his “own goal to inculcate healthy eating habits in the younger generation“.
He and Mrs Lesselin co-founded the company with a six-figure sum that comprises their savings as well as the investments of some friends and fellow food-conscious parents.
Within a month of launching the service, they already have more than 100 parents subscribing to the meals for their children. She is also in talks with about 20 schools to deliver the meals to the students there.
Some other delivery services such as Petit Bowl and the Young Women’s Christian Association’s Meals-On-Wheels for Children programme – cater specifically to children, while food-delivery platforms such as Deliveroo, UberEATS and foodpanda supply their meals to both adults and kids.
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Source: The Straits Times, 18 June 2017