An unlikely company is building a Blue Apron killer in the $5 billion battle for your dinner

Facebook/Sun Basket

Williams-Sonoma is getting into the meal-kit business.

The cookware company is partnering with San Francisco startup Sun Basket to offer organic, non-GMO meal kits bundled with Williams-Sonoma kitchen tools.

The meal kits include ingredients for three meals a week portioned for groups of two, four, or six people.

The meals cost $11.49 per person, or $68.94 per week for two people, $137.88 per week for four people, and $206.82 per week for six people.

Starting Tuesday, Williams Sonoma will be advertising Sun Basket to its customers through email and social media marketing campaigns.

Anyone who signs up for the service through Williams-Sonoma's website after November 18 will get $60 worth of Williams-Sonoma cookware for free in their first delivery.

Facebook/Sun BasketSun Basket will also start featuring Williams-Sonoma recipes in its meal kits on a weekly basis.

"A lot of people feel overwhelmed by thinking about cooking a Williams-Sonoma recipe," Williams-Sonoma president Janet Hayes told Business Insider. "This will make it incredibly easy. It will teach, inspire, and help anybody learn how to cook."

Sun Basket CEO Adam Zbar said the partnership is expected to have a massive impact on Sun Basket's sales.

"It's a really exciting partnership for us," he said in an interview with Business Insider. "It helps elevate our brand and take it to a national audience."

The meal-kit industry has been expanding rapidly in recent years and is on track to grow to between $3 billion and $5 billion over the next 10 years, according to Technomic, a food-industry consulting firm.

Like Williams-Sonoma, Whole Foods is also trying to tap into the trend. The company is testing a meal-kit service called Purple Carrot at a store in Dedham, Massachusetts starting this month. The kits, each containing three meals, will be available for purchase at the Whole Foods store.

Facebook/Sun BasketOut of the three leading meal-kit services, Blue Apron has about 71% of the market, Hello Fresh has about 23% of the market, and Plated has about 6% of the market, according to 1010data.

Unlike those leading companies, however, Sun Basket offers organic, non-GMO ingredients. It also offers menu tailoring for paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian diets.

But it costs slightly more than its competitors.

Sun Basket costs $68.94 per week for three meals that each feed two people. Blue Apron, by comparison, costs $60 for the same amount of food.

Sun Basket launched two years ago, but it only recently expanded nationwide.

It currently serves 86% of US zip codes in 43 states, and is expected to reach 98% of zip codes by next year.

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