Chefmarket.ru

About Chefmarket.ru

Chefmarket.ru operates as a meal-kit delivery service in the Russian market, providing customers with pre-portioned ingredients and corresponding recipes to prepare meals at home. The company was established in 2012 by Sergey Ashin, who currently serves as the CEO. Ashin's background includes over a decade in the metallurgy industry and a role as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. He holds an MBA from London Business School. The idea for Chefmarket stemmed from his personal experience with a similar offline business model in Germany, which he adapted for the Russian market with a focus on an online, delivery-based system. To launch the venture, Ashin utilized his personal savings and even sold his apartment in 2015 to further support the project's growth.

The business functions on a subscription-based model, where customers can sign up for weekly deliveries. They can choose from various meal plans, including 'family,' 'original,' 'balance,' and '20-minutes' menus, for either two or four people. The service offers a weekly selection of around 60 new recipes developed by chefs. Chefmarket manages its own production facility in Moscow, where ingredients are prepared, and orders are assembled and dispatched. The company's delivery network covers Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and several other cities in Central Russia. Revenue is generated directly from the sale of these meal kits to consumers. By 2020, the company's annual revenue surpassed 1 billion rubles.

Since its inception, Chefmarket has secured a total of $10.1 million in funding across five rounds from investors, including Mitsui, AddVenture, and Moscow Seed Fund. The initial funding round occurred in December 2013, with the most recent being a Series A round in July 2017 that raised $3.5 million. The company has received several accolades, such as being named the "Best Culinary Startup" by SAVEURS in 2013 and the "Best business project of the year" by GSEA investors in 2014.