Meal Prep and Delivery Business
MisterHollis
Posts: 21 Member
How much would you be willing to pay for a fresh-prepared, delivered, nutritionally balanced and portioned meal?
Under what conditions would you want to order the meal?
I am not soliciting or advertising. I am wanting to make a career change at the end of May, and I'm trying to find something I actually want to do that is also meaningful and rewarding. As my wife and I have dabbled with "making more healthful decisions", I'm realizing that healthy food prep has some obstacles.
I juiced, and the shopping, veggie/fruit prep (cleaning and chopping), and then cleanup was tedious. Especially considering it was just so that we could each have a glass of juice. I know plenty of people juice in bulk, and then enjoy it over the week. But then I was thinking it might be nice to make enough juice for 5-10 people. Kind of like "economies of scale", the prep and cleanup for 10 is NOT 10 times the prep and cleanup for 1.
And then I considered the process of preparing healthful nutrient-dense meals of fresh, whole-food, locally sourced food. Again, the shopping, prep, and cleanup for 10 people is probably not terribly much more than for 1 or 2.
All of this got me thinking of a business plan. Plenty of companies sell meal-kits (at about $10-12 per meal), and there are plenty of weight-management plans (often costing near $300 per person per month). I would like a company to gather and prepare "healthy" meals, and then deliver daily to clients who have pre-ordered. I've seen some that do this for dinner, but with minimum orders and only for dinner, and offering a limited selection of menus.
My idea is more for people wanting to get something for lunch at work (instead of ordering out, leftovers, or frozen meals), or for those without the means/ability/desire to prepare single-serving healthful meals (elderly, disabled, workaholics, new baby in family, etc.). I imagine me and a chef/helper will bulk-purchase the food, prepare, portion/package, and then deliver. Both of us working at the beginning of the day, and then one of us delivering early lunch while the other finishes the late-lunch order. Then repeating for dinner. Meals could include a macro-nutrient balance, perhaps a protein/entree, side, and small juice blend.
Do you have any experience some something like this (working or consumer)? What are your thoughts?
Under what conditions would you want to order the meal?
I am not soliciting or advertising. I am wanting to make a career change at the end of May, and I'm trying to find something I actually want to do that is also meaningful and rewarding. As my wife and I have dabbled with "making more healthful decisions", I'm realizing that healthy food prep has some obstacles.
I juiced, and the shopping, veggie/fruit prep (cleaning and chopping), and then cleanup was tedious. Especially considering it was just so that we could each have a glass of juice. I know plenty of people juice in bulk, and then enjoy it over the week. But then I was thinking it might be nice to make enough juice for 5-10 people. Kind of like "economies of scale", the prep and cleanup for 10 is NOT 10 times the prep and cleanup for 1.
And then I considered the process of preparing healthful nutrient-dense meals of fresh, whole-food, locally sourced food. Again, the shopping, prep, and cleanup for 10 people is probably not terribly much more than for 1 or 2.
All of this got me thinking of a business plan. Plenty of companies sell meal-kits (at about $10-12 per meal), and there are plenty of weight-management plans (often costing near $300 per person per month). I would like a company to gather and prepare "healthy" meals, and then deliver daily to clients who have pre-ordered. I've seen some that do this for dinner, but with minimum orders and only for dinner, and offering a limited selection of menus.
My idea is more for people wanting to get something for lunch at work (instead of ordering out, leftovers, or frozen meals), or for those without the means/ability/desire to prepare single-serving healthful meals (elderly, disabled, workaholics, new baby in family, etc.). I imagine me and a chef/helper will bulk-purchase the food, prepare, portion/package, and then deliver. Both of us working at the beginning of the day, and then one of us delivering early lunch while the other finishes the late-lunch order. Then repeating for dinner. Meals could include a macro-nutrient balance, perhaps a protein/entree, side, and small juice blend.
Do you have any experience some something like this (working or consumer)? What are your thoughts?
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Replies
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There are a few meal prep places in my city that sell single serving portions.
freshfitmeals.com
getfit-grill.com
missprep.com
None delivers (doesn't seem cost effective to me), but it isn’t a big deal to just stop by and pick up. Prices range from $8-$10 per meal and are roughly 400-500 calories each. I’ve tried 2 places, and I really wanted to like it enough that they could take over the lunch meal prep for me 4-5 days per week. But as it turns out, it’s the same cost and roughly the same calories as a meal from Panera (or a few other healthier lunch restaurants). The restaurant food tastes better because it’s fresh, not reheated. So, it didn’t work out for me.
There used to be quite a few meal prep services in my area before the recession. Most of them went out of business, but they are slowly making a comeback.
ETA: I just reread your post to see that you want to deliver daily. Seems like the meals would have to be ~$15 to cover the gas cost and time. And to deliver to 10 people in an hour or so before lunch? Seems logistically challenging.1 -
Whirly - Thanks for the response!
My goal would be to provide hot/fresh meals (not to be reheated), and hopefully with a very efficient delivery method. Maybe some would be at the same location (school, office, retirement village). If all were pre-ordered the night before, I could have a route to maximize efficiency. Or, maybe delivery isn't worth it and they just pickup.0 -
I think a better option for cost and time would be something like what "My Fit Foods" does/did. A variety of prepped meals in reusable tupperware, several different sizes, great macros/micros, but people pick them up. They're all refrigerated and many can be frozen. You could possibly offer delivery. Delivering hot meals adds significant costs and would be more time/personnel consuming.0
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Before you get too far down the logistics path I recommend you find out your city/state rules about providing food to the public. There are likely licenses to acquire and hoops to jump through, possibly inspections, before you'd be able to legally prepare and sell food.7
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Thanks usmcmp and Melanie. Great things to consider.0
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http://fps.hasanapp.com/
This is one local to me - you preorder the meals and they deliver them. The meals average around $5-8 depending on what you get. You do have to reheat your own meal. They offer free delivery which is super nice.
At the end of the day, it's just so much cheaper to prep my own food. I can make the same exact meals that they offer for about a third of the cost. Not as convenient, but if 2 hours can save me $20 a week, it's worth it
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Loey - Thanks for the website. $5 for a meal seems pretty competitive with fast-food and takeout, but home-prepped always wins. I'm genuinely curious as to how many people would prefer to pay the extra to save the convenience.0
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »Before you get too far down the logistics path I recommend you find out your city/state rules about providing food to the public. There are likely licenses to acquire and hoops to jump through, possibly inspections, before you'd be able to legally prepare and sell food.
Yes, I was looking into a side baking business and was set to pass my state inspection. The state just needed something from my city's Board of Health. But my city does not allow selling food made out of a residential kitchen, so that was the end of that
Also, the requirements from the state would have been really annoying - for example, keeping records of the temperature in the dishwasher, etc.
I'm in Massachusetts.2 -
Thread is 4 years old BTW!
I’m sure the OP has either prospered or moved onto his next entrepreneurial plan! 😂1 -
This is probably one of the most convenient, noble and pleasant businesses for humanity. After all, each of us incredibly loves to eat, I can say this by personal example)
On my own I would only like to wish you success and give a couple of instructions. At one time, when I started my business, no one gave me any recommendations, which made my life quite difficult when I was in a serious condition, it only exacerbated the situation. Therefore, I can recommend a good mentor who can help in a difficult situation and even benefit from it. Such a mentor for me now is https://sageseller.com/blog/how-to-see-the-number-of-organic-sales-and-ppc-sales-for-your-product-on-amazon/ which made I got 200% of the capitalization in a month, which is an incredible result.
Good luck with your business)-4 -
I would love something like this locally; however, I don't think we have anything like that in my area.0
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