Author name: Editor

If you browse the social media now, you will find many caterers promoting a “diet catering” program. These caterers will deliver you calorie-controlled and nutrition-balanced meals for the day (i.e. lunch, snack, dinner). They ensure that you will lose weight, be healthier, and still be happy from enjoying delicious and tasty meals. On a side note, you will have to keep on exercising and get sweaty regularly to burn more calories! For people who are willing to try a strict diet, there is a caterer who practices “Mayo Diet” rules which have to be obeyed by the customer. For 13 consecutive days, They will deliver lunch and dinner that doesn’t contain any salt. Customers are also prohibited to consume salt from any other sources. They determine your breakfast and which fruits you can snack. They guarantee you reduced weight if you follow all the rules and no cheating. “Now I feel cleaner, healthier, lighter, my skirts fits perfectly, I am happier, my skin glows. I feel like a million bucks when I fit into smaller sizes clothes.” Vita Siregar, owner of Blekros Diet While for more laidback people, there are other programs who are more permissive and let them eat anything other than the specified menu. Of course, there is a price to pay. We took three caterers – Blekros, 3SkinnyMinnies, and TRF Homemade – as examples, because they are very popular on Instagram and web blogs. Therefore if you want to maintain your diet, you will have to spend Rp. 3,000,000 – Rp. 6.000.000 each month. Being healthy is not cheap at all, is it? What’s interesting is that these caterers are not professional nutritionists or health practitioners. They used to be customers themselves, trying out products and programs to lose weight, then designed a diet menu by themselves and ask their close friends to try. Some probably consult with a doctor or nutritionist in developing the menu. A thrifty person may feel skeptical and doubt people will join these programs. But apparently, people do join. Here we captured some happy customers who posted their meal-of-the-day on Instagram. It’s understandable that the need to look slim and lean will always exist, but why diet catering? How do people see the credibility of these caterers? Why do people want to spend millions of Rupiahs for a diet-catering program? By desk research, we conclude that consumers of diet catering come from one of these groups: Consumers are willing to join because the caterer promises to give instant results. Blekros claims their program can reduce weight 3 – 8 kilos after 13 days, while 3SkinnyMinnies claims to reduce 1,5 – 2 kilos after 5 days. Source of credibility is endorsement by a celebrity/public figure or a friend, seen by their posted pictures of lunch/dinner provided by the caterer and positive reviews about the meal. Interestingly, one of the consideration in choosing a diet catering is the price, the higher the price, they are more convince about the quality. “This kind of food should come from high quality ingredients and of course it won’t be cheap, therefore I choose the most expensive one. I feel more confident that the food quality is good that’s why the price also premium.” Services, quick to response and ability to explain/convince the customers were also an important element in the process of choosing a diet caterer. We also observe that consumers don’t tend to commit to one caterer only – they will easily switch if another caterer has better value for money or provides better benefits. So, have you considered to try diet catering yet?

For the past few years, there are social movements that move people, especially below 35 years old to start living a healthier life style. It’s all actually started from the willingness to lose weight, because of the perception that someone with ideal body weight is perceived to be more attractive than those who are overweight. Report shown that half (49%) of global respondents believe they are overweight, and half (50%) are trying to lose weight. There are several ways that are becoming trends to achieving those ‘ideal number’, but two of the most common things to do right now is how people are changing their diet and actively doing physical exercise. So it’s really not a matter of being skinny anymore, but to stay “in shape and healthy”. Just browse around the Instagram and use hastag #masakansehat (healthy food), #kateringsehat (healthy catering) or #granolasehat for foods and #bikramyoga, #21Fit or #freeletics for sports. And nothing cheap about these foods or sports membership! So if we talk about trying to be one of those whose “in shape and healthy”, we talk about the willingness to spend your money to buy ‘premium food’ and high-class healthy clubs membership, and research shown that the Millennial generation is the generation that the most willing to pay the “costs”. Apart from the awakening of importance of being healthy among this particular generation, they also the one who are now having the buying power to live up the lifestyle and having willingness to do so. In addition to that, based on my personal interview and groups discussion with other generations (especially the Generation X or Baby Boomers) they are more interested to allocate their money to their children education, holiday, or if they buy healthy food it will be for their children, not for them—which also need to consume it!