Shark Tank fans might remember seeing Harvard Business School alums Nick Taranto and Josh Hix presenting Plated to the Sharks. At the time Mark Cuban struck a deal but it fell apart As Plated felt the value of their company had risen between the time of the show and wanted a higher valuation. In the months to come Nick ran into Kevin O’Leary and he decided to invest in Plated. We’ll give you the rest of the story in a moment. First let me share more about the service.
Plated is a meal delivery service headquartered in New York City. They may be best known for their appearance on Shark Tank and After the Tank but that doesn’t tell their story. Plated is one of the best known meal kit companies in the United States. You can select between 2, 3, or 4 servings per night. The same is true for the number of nights per week with options for 2, 3, or 4 nights. Shipping is free on all orders over $60.
Company Info
Back to our story on the history of Plated. Before going on Shark Tank, the Plated team was part of Techstars NY class in Spring 2013. By July of that year they had delivered over 100,000 meal kits in the United States. To give you an idea of how fast Plated grew early on, they moved to larger and larger fulfillment centers 14 times in the first 3 years. The big exit for the Plated team and early investors came in 2017 when Albertsons acquired the service for $200 million. They have since started offering Plated meal kits in their grocery stores.
Plated Menu and Pricing
The pricing for Plated is very simple. If you are feeding 2 people per meal the cost is $11.95 per serving. If you plan to feed 3 or 4 people per meal the price goes down to $9.95 per serving. It doesn’t matter how many nights a week you order. Choose between 2, 3, and 4 nights for the same price per serving based on the number of people you plan to feed. The only exception is the 4 servings plan which is ideal for 2 adults and 2 teens. Shipping is free on all orders over $60. Otherwise the shipping cost is $10 a week regardless of how many meals you order.
Plated Promo
Who doesn’t like a deal? Promotions are quite common among meal kit services like Plated. They give new customers a chance to test out the service at a discounted price. At the time we signed up Plated was offering 25% off the first 4 weeks. Since our total was over $60 (before the discount was applied) we also received free shipping. After the first 4 boxes we would incur a $10 shipping fee for our order of 3 meals a week for 2 people.
Customer Service
You will find a resourceful FAQ page on the Plated website. It will help you find answers to some of the most common questions. If you are unable to find an answer you can also reach our to their customer support team via email – help@plated.com – or by phone at 855-525-2399 in the United States.
Hands-On Review of Plated
We signed up for Plated on Sunday, September 1st and received our first meal kit on Thursday, September 12th. Take note of the gap as you may have a similar delay depending on which day of the week you place your first order and the day of the week you set the delivery. You need to select the menu by noon 6 days prior to your next scheduled delivery. Since we ordered on Sunday it meant that our menu locked in the following Friday to be shipped out the following Tuesday.
As you can see our Plated invoice clearly showed our discount which was $20 along with free shipping. This added up to a $30 value. The same discount is applied to the first 4 meal boxes. This is a very nice way to try their service. Just remember that you won’t like every meal, regardless of which service you use. It’s just like trying new dishes on your own. Some will become your favorites while others won’t make the list.
After signing up for Pleated you will have a chance to pick the meal for your first delivery. As you can see we selected three meals along with a nice treat. We had over 20 recipes to choose from along with 2 desserts. Clicking on any meal will bring up a page detailing the dish. You can quickly view the prep & cook time, cooking skill, calories, and carbs. This is nice as most services make you go into the full nutritional details to find the carb count. The page also shows you all of the ingredients along with what you will need to have on hand. Finally, it details any allergens like wheat, milk, or eggs.
We received our first Plated meal kit in the late afternoon on the delivery date via Fedex.
Fed Ex placed the box on its side but luckily we brought it in immediately. The box was well packed with the recipes on and food inside insulation to keep it cold. There were several ice packs at the bottom with the meat. All of the ingredients were cold and fresh. The recipes for each meal provide the number of calories and cook time. It does not have any information on how long you have to cook or freeze the meats.
Plated double bagged the meat which was good since one of the bags for the chicken thighs and chicken breast had leaked into the second bag. The bag of ingredients for the barbecue chicken sandwiches was open due to it getting damp during shipping but all the items were fine. The packaging for the meat does not list how long it will stay fresh. We added a dessert to our order and Plated sent a throw away pan to bake it in.
Meal #1 – Chicken Tagine with Moroccan Couscous and Almonds
The first meal we prepared was the Chicken Tagine with Moroccan couscous with almonds. To be honest it wasn’t our favorite. The outside of the chicken was nice and crispy but the meal as a whole was kind of bland. As you can see, Plated provided the ingredients for our dish. All we needed was a few staples like olive oil, salt, and pepper. The produce was nice and fresh. The chicken was packaged with the nutritional info clearly visible.
The timing on the recipe was off a little bit. It was hard to keep the couscous warm while the chicken finished cooking. The recipe called for crushing the garlic clove with the flat side of a knife but if you have a mallet it would make things easier. You will fry the chicken first and then place it in the oven for 20-25 minutes to complete. The couscous gets done fast and the chicken takes awhile. Just something to keep in mind so everything is served hot.
Meal #2 – Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches with Dill Pickle Potato Salad
Next up was the barbecue chicken sandwiches with dill pickle potato salad. We had teenagers over at the time and they all enjoyed sharing this dish. The sauce had a little kick to it from the cayenne pepper. It was very tasty. The potato salad tasted good as well. A few of the potatoes had some bad spots on them. Even so there was plenty to complete the recipe for two servings. Once again we just supplied olive oil, salt, and pepper.
You know when a house full of teenage boys is fighting over the dish it must be good. The barbecue sandwiches were easy to cook. The chicken shredded easily. The recipe called for 5-7 minutes of cooking time on each side but it took a bit longer. You want to make sure the chicken is not pink. You will start with the slaw and then let it marinate before mixing the other ingredients. The mix of the barbecue chicken and slaw made for a tasty dish.
Meal #3 – Rosemary Pork Chop with Fig-Balsamic Glaze and Blue Cheese Potatoes
The final meal in our kit was the rosemary pork chop with fig-balsamic glaze and blue cheese potatoes. The barbecue sandwiches were our favorite dish but this one was a close second. The ingredients included the butter which was a nice touch. The pork chops were individually wrapped and included the nutritional values on the packaging. All of the potatoes were fresh and so was the parsley and rosemary.
We don’t have many notes to share on the rosemary pork chops. We cooked the pork chops a bit longer that the recipe called for since they weren’t quite done. The fig-balsamic glaze was easy to make. Be careful when adding the red wine because it has a tendency to splatter when you add it to the hot pan. The recipe was timed really well. By the time the pork chops and sauce was done, the potatoes were ready.
Dessert – Crispy Cocoa-Marshmallow Treats with White Chocolate
After enjoying all the dinners from Plated we decided to have dessert. The crispy cocoa-marshmallow treats with white chocolate were a worthwhile add-on to our order. You will need to salt and canola oil on hand. You will notice that they send salt. This is for finishing the dish, not for earlier in the recipe. Once again Plated sent the butter which is plus over most the other meal delivery services. The dessert was easy to cut and tasty.
Conclusion
We were excite to try Plated after watching Nick and Josh pitch the business on Shark Tank. The service has come a long way over the years and we enjoyed testing them out. Fedex delivered our box on its side which may have led to one of the bags for the chicken being open. Luckily Plated double bagged the meat so we were good. Otherwise all the ingredients were fresh and we enjoyed all the dishes. We noticed that some of the Plated dishes take more effort than some of the other services we tested. Even so the results were delicious. We were pleased with Plated and feel good recommending the company. Remember to take advantage of their current promotion to save on your first order.
