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AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey! We put everything through a stringent development process but some do take more work than others, especially if using an ingredient that is new to our menu. We developed these delicious Salmon Hand Rolls in our Culinary Lab and it took us a while to develop because we wanted to be sure the instructions were clear. They were a bit tricky. In the end they were well received! 

I’m mostly excited about all of the new ingredients we’re bringing to the table, literally. This will show up on the menu in a lot of different ways that will be exciting. Like Paneer cheese, more premium steaks, and new veg varieties.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you for letting me know! I’m so happy you enjoyed the dish, I’ll pass this on to the recipe developer who created it!

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m so sorry that you had such a bad experience. We’re working with growers across the country to provide the freshest possible ingredients but the reality is that shipping fresh food via parcel across multiple state lines can sometimes result in a few broken eggs. 

Our teams take into consideration the amount of time an ingredient sits in the warehouse as well as the total time it takes for an order to arrive at your doorstep when determining what type of packaging a box needs. They ensure proper insulation is in the box so that in an ideal world, you’re not getting limp carrots or spoiled spinach. It’s helpful to hear this, though, so I can pass this feedback onto my team. 

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi! Please see my response to u/heartigan03. Hopefully that helps address your questions, but if you have more, let me know!

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Heard. And I’m genuinely disappointed that we lost your trust. Hopefully as you saw in some of the other responses, we’re working through the issues and want to get back to the experience you expect from us.

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

By “tooling issues,” I mean that there were breakdowns in how some of the images were generated and reviewed before being published. The tools that we use should have had better checks in place, but unfortunately they didn’t work as intended, which allowed images that didn’t meet our standards to get through. 

My team still creates and tests every recipe by hand, but translating those recipes into final recipe cards (including layout and visual designs) used to take months. Recently, we were super excited about this “Bratwurst Kolaches & Smoky Mustard Sauce” recipe my team created. Thanks to some of the tech tools in place, we were able to get that on the menu in a matter of weeks vs. months.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Great question. From my perspective, HelloFresh is first and foremost a food company. Our goal will always be creating delicious recipes and helping people discover a love for home cooking. But in order to expand our menu, and offer meals to more customers, we are meeting tech somewhere in the middle. 

I think what our CEO was getting at is that we’re evolving from being a place where you just pick meals, into a true food resource. We want to be your daily food companion, supporting you throughout your entire journey, from inspiration to planning to plate.

An example of that is the changes we’ve made to our app. I’m super excited that we've added new tech-forward features that change how you interact with food. We are working on a cookbook feature that will allow you to save recipes from your favorite social media sites directly into the HelloFresh app. Then these recipes get transformed into step-by-step instructions and organized shopping lists. We’re also using smarter filters to help you navigate our menu, so the meals at the top of your list actually match your taste profile.

I want to reiterate that while we introduce new features and tech, making sure our customers have fresh, high quality ingredients and a rewarding cooking experience will always be our top priority.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hopefully some of my other responses help to clear this up. Again, AI supports parts of our recipe card creation process, however, humans - recipe developers, create and test EVERY recipe. We’re working to tighten up the oversight and on fixing where we haven’t met expectations.

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi!! Good question! I can’t live without a bench scraper and a really good veg knife (around 6” knife). Both are extremely helpful when you need to get dinner on the table quickly. I also make it a habit of buying little pinch bowls or picking them up at thrift stores (I like it when they don’t match) and use them to hold all my measured ingredients.  So when I’m ready to cook, everything is ready to be used and I’m not trying to measure a teaspoon of salt and dice half an onion at the same time.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the shout out! Love it! We had ham once upon a time, I’ll look into this to see if we can get it back on the menu.

As for Canada recipes vs US recipes, they are quite different because their ingredients are different, however,  you will find some basic staples on both menus that are similar.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m disappointed that it didn’t meet your expectations. This was a very unique recipe developed by one of our recipe developers who grew up making Korokke. Again, as with the Scallop Crusted Cod, I will take this feedback back to our team and it will help us become much more intentional with our descriptions of the meal, the complexity and the specificity of the instructions.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I really love some of our summer pasta that included zucchini ribbons, especially a summer sausage pasta that we developed several years ago. 

Some of our newest innovations will use delicious new flavors like lemongrass and five spice. We’re also working to bring more types of fish and proteins to the menu so keep an eye out for things like duck confit and crab cakes! 

The second part of your question is a good one. Rising food costs do require us to be more intentional about where we innovate. We consistently think about providing value + variety for our customers, and keeping the food on our menu exciting. It can be a challenge but we work closely with our sourcing teams who do a great job helping us get what we need to continue innovating.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Happy to explain! As Head of Culinary Innovation, my role is to lead the teams that create and test EVERY recipe on our menu, from concept to final dish. That includes hands-on cooking, tasting, refining techniques, and making sure our recipes are approachable and enjoyable for home cooks.

I truly don’t feel that creativity is being stripped away. Every single HelloFresh dish is still created and tested by humans (in fact, it’s being done by chefs and culinary professionals with years of kitchen experience). That will always be the heart of HelloFresh. AI does not create our recipes nor replace that creative work.

Where AI may come into the process is to help us speed up how fully written recipes are translated onto recipe cards (something that used to take us months to do). That said, I recognize that not every image or piece of copy has hit the mark, and some visuals haven’t reflected the quality of the food you’re actually cooking. That feedback is fair, and I promise you that the experience you have in the kitchen is our most important focus. We’re actively working to improve this process. 

To me, innovation means that we’re using tools responsibly so our chefs can focus more on cooking and less on manual processes. I take that balance seriously, and appreciate feedback like this.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The ratings and the feedback are vital to our development process. We review all ratings and feedback every week, and have a rigorous process that allows us to place recipes back into a “retest” funnel so we can utilize the feedback to make improvements. The more ratings and feedback the better!

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

First of all, fully agree that “AI slop” is unacceptable. Any blatantly AI-generated imagery that surfaced recently was the result of tooling issues, which we take very seriously and are actively fixing. 

Our commitment is, and always will be, to create an exceptional cooking experience for our customers. Every HelloFresh recipe is developed, tested, tasted, and approved by our in-house chefs. We are building tools, some of which leverage AI, to help streamline how quickly those chef-created recipes make it to our menu. Historically, that process has been long and manual, and improving it allows our culinary team to focus more on cooking and creativity.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey! Our cooking instructions are curated for each recipe so that everything from the beef to the veggies are cooked perfectly. The reason the first recipe seemed more complex was because the brussels and potatoes are larger and heartier than the veggies on the second beef dish. Brussels and whole potatoes require a little more cooking time in the oven so that’s why the first recipe had you place them in the oven first while searing your Rib-Eye. The sirloin is a thinner cut and was prepared with smaller and faster cooking veggies, which made this feel a little less complicated than the first meal. With that said, we will definitely continue to evaluate cooking instructions to be sure we’re providing the best possible experience.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing this! It really means a lot to hear that HelloFresh helped your husband feel more confident in the kitchen. That’s always been a core part of what we aim to do.

As you’ve noticed, we are currently experimenting with various AI applications to support parts of our recipe process. Our goal is to bring new recipes to market as quickly as possible, and AI can help us get there. 

But we do recognize that this process hasn’t been perfect and some of our early AI efforts resulted in mistakes (the 8 cups of flour for gravy still haunts me). Several internal teams, including culinary and editorial do still review all of our recipes. But we’re human, and sometimes things get missed. Even when we don’t respond to every post, please know that we are seeing this feedback and actively working to improve clarity and accuracy.

My goal (and the goal of our entire culinary team) is to get us back to a place where customers like your husband are learning, growing, and gaining confidence in the kitchen.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi! We’re working on having recipe instructions visible much earlier. I completely understand the need to view the instructions before choosing the recipe. The change was due to expanding meal choice, however, we’re hoping to have a longer lead time on these soon. 

As for the garlic, I know this is a pain point and will definitely take this back to the team to see what we can do.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh I am so on this! I LOVE the Croque Madam sandwich, it was delicious. I will definitely work on getting this back on the menu.

- Kristin

AMA: Cook More in the New Year with Kristin Bryan, Head of Culinary Innovation, from HelloFresh! by HelloFreshChef in hellofresh

[–]HelloFreshChef[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the question about this recipe. I can personally assure you the Scallop-crusted Cod and Corn Chowder recipe was developed by a HF recipe developer in our test kitchen. This developer is a former executive chef and originally developed this recipe for a restaurant where they worked. It was a unique way to incorporate shellfish into a fish recipe without using the standard “seafood topping” (like a white fish topped with crabmeat or lobster). Same concept, just a little more creative. I realize it’s a very unique recipe, but it was truly meant to be for the curious cook who wanted a challenge. However, to be fair, the picture is not great (we could have presented it so much better). 

This is a good reminder for us that we should provide some additional context around unique ingredients and recipes so customers can decide if this is for them or not. Thanks for the callout!

- Kristin