Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 63 posts

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#11

Post by jpau »

confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

Speaking as an Australian, I'm surprised that the average American spends as little as $7 per day on food. Do you know who compiled this statistic, and what a 'typical' $7 day's diet might look like?

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#12

Post by confluence »

DanBC wrote: post #8
confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

> These margins must be destroyed Are those real margins, or are those the costs of sensible operation in a safety critical regulated marketplace? > It is currently not economical for most people to adopt at the steep mark up of $14 a day that medical suppliers currently charge. You Americans and your weird healthcare. Just checking - how do you work out that price of $14 per day? I don't doubt it, these things are e…

> Are those real margins, or are those the costs of sensible operation in a safety critical regulated marketplace?

For late stage cancer patients it sure might be the case that the margins are deserved. But for healthy adults this might not be the case.

It really isn't that hard to measure basic powders and mix them together, nor is it that expensive to QA one's methods. Cost per day should approach cost of production per day in competitive commodity markets. The fact that this is not the case is due to some kind of market distortion, whether that is unserviced market need, human diet biases, oligopoly dynamics or regulatory barriers.

> how do you work out that price of $14 per day?

People need 2,000 kcal per day. Ensure nutritionally complete powder's serving size is 250 calories. Hence you need 8 servings per day to hit 2,000 kcal. A 7 serving can costs $13.71 on Amazon, which is $1.958 per serving, or $15.66 for a full day's needs. If you buy in bulk with a 6 can pack, cost per can is $10.83, giving $1.547 per serving, or $12.377 per day.

Sources:

1 can; http://www.amazon.com/Ensure-Nutrition-Powder-Vanilla-Flavor...

6 can pack: http://www.amazon.com/Ensure-Complete-Balanced-Nutrition-Van...

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#13

Post by pothibo »

confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

Normal food at 5$ a day? Not sure which part of the world you live in, but if it's in North America/Europe I call b.s without evidence.

You can't run on Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's only without having consequences.

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#14

Post by seg »

andzt wrote: post #5

One of the ideas I want to find out by trying Soylent is: What happens when hunger is no longer an issue? Will I still crave juicy burgers and fries everday at 12pm? Will I really be satisfied by only eating small bites if I'm already full off Soylent? I definitely see myself using this on days where I'm just too busy to run out for lunch, early morning breakfasts, or as good healthy travel food. Not sure I'll replac…

I reckon you'd be dreaming about food in the Homer Simpson style for a while, until you get utterly accustomed to the new diet. I call that the brainwashing of the stomach. (because stomach-washing sound weird)

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#15

Post by Mikeb85 »

This is unfortunate. Food can be a cultural experience, it brings people together, and tasty, well-prepared food is one of life's great pleasures. Reducing food to merely taking care of physical needs (presumably so we can work more hours) is a shame...

Edit - missed some parts of the article - seems it's more in the quick meal-replacement shake category, not to outright replace easting. Either way, I'll take real food.

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#16

Post by BorgHunter »

confluence wrote: post #12
DanBC wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These margins must be destroyed Are those real margins, or are those the costs of sensible operation in a safety critical regulated marketplace? > It is currently not economical for most people to adopt at the steep mark up of $14 a day that medical suppliers currently charge. You Americans and your weird healthcare. Just checking - how do you work out that price of $14 per day? I don't doubt it, these things are e…

> Are those real margins, or are those the costs of sensible operation in a safety critical regulated marketplace? For late stage cancer patients it sure might be the case that the margins are deserved. But for healthy adults this might not be the case. It really isn't that hard to measure basic powders and mix them together, nor is it that expensive to QA one's methods. Cost per day should approach cost of productio…

Minor note: People need 2000 kcal a day, not 2 kcal. 1 kcal = 1 Calorie = 1000 calories.

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#17

Post by ihsw »

netcan wrote: post #9

I'm not sure if there's something I'm missing about soylent, but it seems to me like the most remarkable thing in the soylent story is that the company is a product of the tech startup culture. The product itself fits (in my mind) in the nutritional supplements / meal replacements category and wouldn't have ordinarily gotten the attention of HN and startup investors.* I wonder if this is an anomaly or first blood. Ma…

I think this could successfully be marketed to developing countries as a food ration/field ration -- the cost per KG is quite high but it's far superior to other rations.

Imagine if naval explorers of yore had Soylent instead of cured/canned meats.

Canadian military field ration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Meal_Pack

American military field ration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#18

Post by confluence »

adrianm wrote: post #10
confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers - but a four pack of Ensure Complete can be had for ~$9 or less. It's not the cheapest thing in the world, but I can comfortably drink three for breakfast, lunch, and midday snack and have a regular, home cooked dinner and still keep daily food intake cost below $15.

Normal at home prepared food is about half that cost.

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#19

Post by [deleted] »

pothibo wrote: post #13
confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

Normal food at 5$ a day? Not sure which part of the world you live in, but if it's in North America/Europe I call b.s without evidence. You can't run on Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's only without having consequences.

[deleted]

Re: Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously

#20

Post by fennecfoxen »

jpau wrote: post #11
confluence wrote: post #3

The key thing that Soylent is going after is Ensure/Fortsip/Sustagen's margins. Full meal replacements are cost competitive with normal food at $5 a day. Medical suppliers currently charge a steep markup of $14 a day for their full meal replacements. At this price it is uneconomical for most people to adopt full meal replacements as a large part of their diets. These margins must be destroyed. Soylent, and its compet…

Speaking as an Australian, I'm surprised that the average American spends as little as $7 per day on food. Do you know who compiled this statistic, and what a 'typical' $7 day's diet might look like?

I don't know who compiled that statistic, but I can show you the USDA statistics!

* http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/usdafoodcost-home.htm

* http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood.htm

Post reply on HN