Introduction This report is the first of four parts when it comes to a broader proposal. The proposal is for a mobile application for smartphones and tablets that is going to be called Pocket Chef. That application will allow someone to input various foods that are in the refrigerator or pantry of a homeowner. Those base ingredients are then synthesized and analyzed. The recipes that can be crafted using those ingredients are then supplied to the user. The industry code for this application, more commonly known as the NAICS code, shall be 722330. That code is for mobile food services. Before getting into more of the particulars of this application, how it will be crafted, how it will be managed and how it will otherwise come to exist and function, there will first be a focus on the wider industry in question. The questions that will be answered include when the relevant genre emerged, when the genre started, how useful or “essential” the applications and services are held to be, how large the genre has become, how many users are currently in the relevant paradigm, the forecasting that exists when it comes to the future and the overall sales volume that exists, both historical and presently. A small collection of charts and graphs will be used to drive home and explain the statistics and facets of the industry. The sources used in this report will be scholarly or otherwise reputable in nature.

Analysis

Before getting into the details noted in the introduction, it is important to note that the food service mobile app industry is rather expansive and varied. It can range from the apps of particular restaurants to the apps of delivery services of facilitators such as GrubHub, UberEats and so forth. It can include apps for food networks (e.g. Food Network) or it can include those of celebrity chefs (e.g. Rachel Ray). A lot of the time, there can be a blurring of the proverbial lines between one or more of those examples. For example, McDonald’s food can be delivered through a blend of Uber and McDonald’s. Another example would be cross-promotion between certain apps and certain celebrities. Before looking at the food industry in particular, it would be wise to look at the mobile app industry as a whole. 91 percent of the adult population in the United States owns a cellular phone. Of that whole, 61 percent own smartphones. The number of units out there at least doubles that of personal computers (PC’s). The aggregate market is about 268 billion app downloads with there being about $77 billion in total revenue. Just over half of all app users have not paid for apps. However, 46 percent of users have reported being willing to do so or having done so. These apps normally go for five dollars or less. In some instances, the apps cost $20 or more, although less than a fifth of all users have been willing to spend that much. The most commonly used types of apps include search/portals (e.g. Google), entertainment, communication, commerce/shopping and productivity tools (Clifford, 2014).

It is slightly different than what Pocket Chef will be designed to be, but the mobile food app industry is growing quite large. The UberEats (and similar) industry, by itself, is mushrooming in size and scope. It is to the point that it can cause a restaurant to be “left behind” if they are not making use of the mobile revolution. Online food ordering is projected to be a $38 billion industry by 2020. There are...

The mobile ordering can be to enable and facilitate delivery (e.g. UberEats). It can also be pre-ordering so that the food or drink is ready to go when the person arrives rather than having to arrive and then order. Starbucks and Pizza Hut are examples of firms that are doing just that. This is not a huge adjustment for firms that have done delivery in some form for quite a while. The just-mentioned example of Pizza Hut would be an example. However, it is something that is fairly to very new to some firms. Starbucks would be an example of that (Taylor, 2016).
With that in mind, there are plenty of people that are of the “foodie” persuasion. This can obviously include people that like to dine out. However, there are plenty of others that like to use their mobile devices and apps to make their own food. This could be something that they saw Rachel Ray or the people on The Chew prepare. It can also be something that takes advantage of what food and ingredients are on hand rather than necessitating more food being bought. This keeps pantry and refrigerator contents efficient and it saves times. This is where Pocket Chef comes in. There are a lot of people that are pushed for time or money due to other commitments or limitations. There are also people that are just curious what they can make with their favorite ingredients. Regardless, the depth and breadth of what is currently being offered, not to mention what is to come, is important to explore and review in terms of industry, current trends and so forth. The following examples and graphics can help prove the point even further.

An example of what Pocket Chef will be doing can be seen by seeing what Eden Foods is doing when it comes to their app. Much like what Pocket Chef will be, people can search by ingredient and otherwise customize their food preparation based on what they have on hand rather than picking something first and then worrying about the ingredients. It is very much like the aforementioned use of Starbucks or Pizza Hut to pre-order items with a pre-conceived decision in mind rather than figuring out after the fact. A screenshot of the current Eden Recipes model can be seen below. There are also a few other recipe/food apps that follow that one. They will serve examples of features that Pocket Chef might use. They will also show what the competition is doing independent of what Pocket Chef will be doing or not doing.

(Eden Recipes, 2018).

(Lempert, 2018).

The above application is Grocery Hero. This existing application is very much like what Pocket Chef will resemble, at least in terms of overall function. It is useful in that one can input ingredients from the refrigerator, the freezer or the pantry. Once everything is input, there is then the ability to search for the recipes that fit the desired food options (Lempert, 2018).

(FoodMix, 2018).

The above is a continuing of the same theme noted above. One can see, in the search bar, that one could focus on ingredient, dish or keyword. Thus, it might be wise for Pocket Chef to expand its scope and reach just a little bit. The other apps that are out there are rather feature rich and any new entrant into the market will need to follow the same pattern.

A graphic that explains the wider home food preparation and recipe mobile app paradigm can…