Given the alternatives—farm to table, app to front door—can the microwavable meal compete? Since débuting in March, a company called Crave New World has been hawking its next-gen TV dinners on college campuses, even brokering a deal with fraternities and sororities: free food to fuel a social-media competition (the prize: tickets to the N.C.A.A. Final Four).
“People in the house liked them so much, we almost didn’t have enough to make the TikToks,” Jacob Avram, a University of Michigan sophomore and a Delta Chi chair, said recently. He played director for his frat brothers: “Take a bite, say ‘Mmm.’ Act like it tastes good.”
“I have a lot in common with them,” Matthew Brag, the company’s founder, said of the frat guys. He was in a flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots, driving an S.U.V. up the 101 Freeway to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was going to pass out samples. “I didn’t eat fruits or vegetables growing up,” he said. “Stouffer’s was, like, sixty per cent of my diet.” Owing to what he calls food-related O.C.D., Brag, who is thirty-six, didn’t eat a salad until four years ago—“a Caesar, and even then it was a process,” he said. “It wasn’t like I woke up the next day saying, ‘Hand me the fucking kale.’ I woke up saying, ‘What are healthier versions of things that I’ve had for three decades?’ ”
Lasagna, mac and cheese—the sort of stick-to-your-ribs grub forsaken, Brag said, by “New Age, direct-to-consumer companies launched in the zero-interest-rate years.” A former investment banker, Brag helped Warren Buffett acquire Heinz in 2013. “Those brands,” he went on, “came with all this associated life-style virtue signalizing—‘Eat this, and also practice Transcendental Meditation,’ all this super-patronizing B.S.”
Eating healthier, in Crave’s world, means high fibre and no seed oils; the meals also avoid dairy, “an allergen,” Brag said, to capture “as wide a market as possible.” Last year, Brag spoke to dozens of consumers, focus-grouping his frozen meals. “We asked what their favorite comfort-food dishes were,” he said. “They just started crying,” reminiscing about what Mom used to make. In September, Crave will hit the shelves in a thousand Kroger grocery stores and other retailers.
“Do you ever wish you’d brought along something to read?”
Cartoon by David Sipress
On campus in Santa Barbara, having weathered some anxiety about a bake sale that had set up next to Crave’s red-white-and-blue booth, Brag explained that he’d hired two young women who could pass as current coeds to hand out the samples. “They’re going to do a better job than I ever could,” he said.
A bro with a bike and wavy hair ambled over. “Would you like a free sample?” one of the women asked. “It’s free of seed oils, high in protein, low in calories, and high in fibre.”
The bro took a paper cup of mac and cheese. “I think if it had a little bit of seed oil it would be better,” he said, chewing. “Maybe some sunflower oil, or just dip it in canola.”
“Kids,” Brag said from the sidelines.
A guy carrying a skateboard sidled up to the other server, looking ambivalent.
“Just have one,” the woman said. “It’s breakfast.” (It was past noon.)
“Aw, hell,” the guy said, and theatrically took a bite of mac and cheese.
“Honest rating?” Brag asked.
“Two.”
Other testers were more expansive. “Delicate noodle taste,” a boy in a hoodie said.
“It’s a good level of spice,” a girl in sweatpants offered.
“They have such a complex language about it,” Brag said. “I’d be, like, ‘This good, this bad.’ ” He went on, “College is not actually my demo—it’s their parents. It was supposed to create a flywheel effect”: kid tells Mom, Mom adds to cart. “We’ve had a lot of website inquiries from parents being, like, ‘My kids keep talking about this. How can I send it to them?’ That part, at least, has worked.” ♦
