As meal-kit companies such as Blue Apron struggle in the U.S., Goodfood Market Corp. is betting that the nascent Canadian market offers better growth prospects with less potential threat from e-commerce giants such as Amazon.
“The idea that we are in the early days of that gigantic industry building is absolutely true,” Jonathan Ferrari, chief executive officer of Montreal-based Goodfood, said in a phone interview.
Canadians have been much slower than Americans to adopt meal kits, subscription services that offer the fresh ingredients and recipes needed to make meals at home. GMP Securities analyst Martin Landry estimates the Canadian industry lags its American counterpart by two to four years, with household penetration of 0.5 percent compared with 1.5 percent in the U.S.
“In our view, with higher expected growth rates, a less competitive and more consolidated market, Canada is more attractive than the U.S.,” Landry wrote in a recent note initiating coverage of Goodfood, which is the largest meal-kit provider in Canada.
