Safe takeout: Meal kits from Chick-fil-A, Einstein Bros. Bagels, and awesome local restaurants

Restaurants are cooking up a new business model: meal kits.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, meal kit companies were losing subscribers, with some predicting that leading industry players would be dead in a few years. Now kits are back in style, and restaurants are offering pre-prepped meals. Here are a few nationwide options we were able to dig up:

Chick-fil-A will release its chicken parmesan meal kit (two breaded filets, cheese, pasta) on May 4 for $14.99, available for both delivery and pickup at half of its locations. More info here.
Einstein Bros. Bagels is keen to attract families with a half-dozen box options, including a Take & Make Pizza Bagel kit that feeds six ($9.99), a Breakfast Burrito Kit for four ($12.99), and a Sugar Cookie Kit, with decorations ($8.99). More info here.
Klatch Coffee is serving up ready-to-go sandwich kits (turkey or ham, cheese, avocado, fixin’s, cookies) and breakfast kits (four bagels, eight eggs, cheese, ham, fresh fruit) for four, $27.50. More info here.

Locally, restaurateurs are making big shifts too. Famed Chicago restaurant Fat Rice is permanently closing, to become Super Fat Rice Mart, which will offer meal kits, starting with a $100 kit that is two days’ worth of food for two people. Future kits will update frequently. You can check out local options by googling “[your city] restaurant meal kits.”