Meal kits are a subscription food business model that sends customers the ingredients and recipes they need for homemade food. As of July 2017, the meal kit business reached $2.2 billion globally and is set to experience rapid growth. Subscribers are described as mostly young, urban, male, and upper-income. This post looks at American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to find out who is doing the cooking in American kitchens.

First, I tackle what age groups experienced the greatest growth in average daily hours spent preparing food and drinks. Figure 1, below, shows that those in the 15-24 age bracket spent the least time preparing food and drinks, but experienced the greatest growth in average daily hours spent in the kitchen. Between 2003 and 2018, the average daily hours people in the 15-24 age group spent on preparing food and drinks grew by 47.1%. On the flip-side, those in the 65 and older category experienced a decline of 5.5% in average daily hours spent preparing food and drinks. Another noteworthy category is the age bracket 45-54, which experienced a growth rate of 27.5%. Therefore, the age demographics of who’s cooking tend to skew younger, but middle-age people are spending more time in the kitchen as well.

Next, I look at whether gender matters when it comes to time spent preparing food or drinks. Figure 2, below, shows that women overwhelmingly spend more time in the kitchen than men, but men experienced much greater growth in time spent preparing food and drinks than women. More specifically, the average number of hours that men spent cooking increased by 42.9% between 2003 and 2018. The amount of daily hours spent cooking for women dropped by 1.1% during the same time period. This gender breakdown shows that men are spending more and more time cooking and the growth rate in hours spent cooking for women is relatively flat and slightly negative.

Turning to family status, Figure 3, below, shows that those with children under 18 spend more time preparing food and drinks and also experience greater growth in average daily hours spent cooking than those without children under 18. Figure 3 shows that those with children under 18 in the household experienced a growth rate of 21.2% in average daily hours spent cooking between 2003 and 2018. Those without children under 18 in the household experienced a growth rate of 14.3% in average number of daily hours spent cooking over the same time period. Therefore, the growth rate in daily hours spent cooking is greater for those with children than those without.

Finally, Figure 4, below, shows the impact of labor force status–employed full-time, employed part-time, and not employed–on average daily hours spent on food and drink preparation. The headline is that those who are employed–regardless of full-time or part-time–experienced the same growth in average daily hours spent cooking. Those who are employed experienced approximately 30% growth in daily hours spent cooking between 2003 and 2018. Those who are not employed experienced a slight decline of 1.8% in average daily hours spent preparing food and drinks. Therefore, those who are employed spend more time cooking and see greater growth in the number of daily hours spent preparing food and drinks.

This short descriptive analysis suggests that meal kit delivery services would do well to target young and middle-age people as well as men. Also, those who have children are spending more and more time cooking as are those who are employed. These groups have experienced the greatest growth in average daily hours spent preparing food and drinks and meal kit delivery services should target these growing demographics.

Source: American Time Use Survey; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal_kit