Czechia’s dinner dilemma finds a Finnish fix with Yummy box meal kits

Somewhere between grocery shopping and food delivery, there lies a compromise. If you live in Finland, that solution is Ruokaboksi, a recipe box delivery service that now brings pre-measured cooking ingredients to more than 180,000 satisfied home chefs across Finland and Estonia.

But you don’t need to move to Lapland to order a convenient meal kit; the same service is now available in the Czech Republic under the Yummy brand, launched by Prague-based expat Joonas Mäkilä. The buzz has been positive.

“Many companies are offering ready-made food in boxes. However, in our category— delivery of cooking kits, i.e. precisely weighed ingredients for preparing food—there is almost no one here, even though the largest player, Hello Fresh, comes from Berlin.”

Like Hello Fresh, Yummy box includes pre-measured meats, produce, seasonings, and sides with recipe cards for easy meal preparation. Customers can order online deliveries once a week. The rotating menu selections offer everything from meat and fish to curries and soups, with more vegetarian alternatives being added.

CEO Mäkilä, who, along with Ruokaboksi co-founder Juhana Rintala, introduced Yummy box to the Czech market in January, says that consistent food quality—something many felt was lacking in local supermarkets—was a major appeal for early testers. Czech suppliers currently include Maso Klouda and Titbit, and plans are underway to incorporate more local businesses.

“Expats were among some of our first testers,” says Mäkilä, a father of two who advocates not only for the convenience of the service but also the mental load it lifts from parents.

“Thanks to us, they don’t have to go shopping and, most importantly, they don’t have to think about what to cook for dinner, which is a constant and very tiring topic in most families,” he adds.

Sustainability is another key ethos at Yummy, and it’s more than just a buzzword. Given that up to a third of all edible food produced globally ends up in the trash, ordering smaller amounts promotes more responsible buying.

“Think about wanting to make a curry but then buying everything—including a whole jar of curry paste—that ends up going bad in the fridge,” says Mäkilä. From a waste and convenience perspective, that makes sense, but what about from a cost perspective?

The small box, designed for 1-2 people, costs CZK 1,399 for three recipes, while the large box, designed for families of 3-4, costs CZK 1,999. It’s more expensive than the supermarket but cheaper than an upmarket restaurant meal.

But the Yummy box founder believes the real magic lies in transforming a truly stressful modern experience—the mad dash for dinnertime—into something special.

“In Finland, some customers tell us they learned to cook thanks to Yummy, and the best thing is when children start cooking with us,” says Mäkilä.

His friends and family have found that coming together to make meals designed by a professional chef is an important—not to mention really fun—activity for families starved for stress-free quality time.

A family of four, tired of spaghetti, chicken fingers, and last-minute pizza orders, recently tried a Yummy box delivery, cooking each meal together.