Philadelphia was the perfect hub for Snap Kitchen when they decided to expand their Texas-based, healthy prepared meal service to busy millennials on the East Coast. On Wharton Business Radio’s Launch Pad, Snap Kitchen’s Chief Digital Officer and Chief Technology Officer Jon Carter reflected on ways the company has grown, from the thriving tech scene in Austin to branching out to Philadelphia and going digital.
Interview Highlights
On Choosing Philadelphia
“We wanted to get into the East Coast and we picked Philadelphia because it’s right down to pair in terms of who we understand our customers to be — busy, typically single millennials who value their health, and it seemed like a really great market that matched our concept that wasn’t quite as expensive and as ambitious as getting into, say, New York straight away.” — Jon Carter
On Tech Opportunities in Austin
‘“There’s a lot of your big tech firms that are out here. […] When you look at the venture capital support structure, I wouldn’t say it’s all the way mature. It’s definitely a growing space, but there’s a ton of consumer-facing technology concepts here, […] consolidation companies. It’s just a range of different verticals that have burgeoning concepts coming to market in this town. I don’t know what it is in the water but it’s definitely got something going on here.” — Jon Carter
On Where To Take Your Career
“Pick markets where you are not the smartest person in the room. I would go places where you’ve got a vibrant base and community of people who are trying to do really cool things and impact the world in various ways. At least that’s for me the most important thing. And then, in that context, good things tend to happen.” — Jon Carter
On Transitioning to a Lifestyle Solution
“For us, we want to have weekly relationships with our customers. We truly see ourselves as a lifestyle solution. Whereas, our background, our founding, was about a grab-and-go concept. As we evolve, it really is about that weekly relationship — how can we solve various points of friction in your nutrition needs week to week. That could be about simply giving you your time back, hitting some sort of health goal, or just maintaining balance.” — Jon Carter
Posted: March 11, 2019
