Develop Your Meal Prep Business Idea

Your meal prep business idea starts with some important decisions: 

Will you streamline your customers’ recipe planning and ingredient gathering, or offer them fully prepared meals ready for heating?

Will you pursue family recipes that cater to a unique target market, or are you trying to help people get the important nutrition they need? 

To get started, ask yourself these two important questions: 

1. What makes your business unique? 

Identify what sets your business apart by considering the following: 

🥨 Passions & skills: Are you enthusiastic about the Mediterranean diet? Sharing your well-researched meal plans could resonate with health-conscious customers.

🥨 Community needs: Perhaps you’re part of a Catholic community that eats fish on Fridays instead of meat. Your meal kits could specifically cater to this tradition.

🥨 Business opportunity: Maybe you recognize a gap in the market, such as meal kits designed for special occasions like anniversaries or kids’ birthdays.

2. What kind of meal kits will you offer? 

Overall, you have two main options when it comes to starting your meal planning business: 

🥕 Uncooked meal kits: Here, you will include all the raw ingredients needed for your dish with instructions on how to cook it. 

For example, you might offer spicy BBQ pulled chicken bowls, where you provide all the ready-to-cook ingredients, along with steps to follow on how to prepare it. 

Here’s an example of this exact meal: 

Source: Blue Apron 

🥘 Cooked meal kits: This means that you do all the heavy lifting, such as sourcing ingredients and cooking the meals, and your customers simply heat it when they’re ready. 

You could offer a range of cooked meals—such as chicken tikka masala or buffalo chicken mac and cheese—which they can choose from and have delivered to their doorstep. 

These meals can then either be stored in their fridge or freezer, and when they’re ready to eat it, they can heat it in their microwave or oven.

Here’s an example of cooked meal options: 

Source: Prep Kitchen 

Choose a Business Model

Now that your business exists in theory, it’s time to tackle the decisions that will make or break your meal prep organization. 

Alongside a business plan, one of the first decisions you need to make is to decide on your business model. To put it simply: how you will sell your meal kits to customers.

When choosing your business model, you have three main options: 

1. Storefront meal prep businesses 

You can set up a physical store or location to sell your meal packages from, whether it’s a local shop, farmers market, or using local supermarkets as a middleman. 

This setup is ideal for high-end meal plan businesses that want to showcase their personal touch, feature local ingredients, or establish a community connection.

Having a storefront will allow you to: 

✔️ Attract local customers

✔️ Build community relationships

✔️ Add a personal touch to your service

✔️ Receive immediate customer feedback

✔️ Host in-store events and promotions 

However, having a storefront can confine your business to a local market, making it difficult to scale in the long run. 

Unfortunately, storefronts also have:

❌ Limited sales opportunities

❌ Dependence on location for success

❌ Customers having to travel to you

❌ Higher costs for rent, utilities, and maintenance

❌ Limited operating hours

❌ Need for more staff for in-store operations 

2. On-demand meal prep businesses 

Instead of committing to a physical storefront, you can establish a website where customers can browse your meal kits virtually. 

You can also use meal prep delivery services, such as Uber Eats, to help you get your food delivered to your customers. 

If customers are facing a particularly busy week ahead, they can easily order a batch of your healthy meals to save time. 

This option is perfect for a meal prep delivery business that specializes in accommodating busy lifestyles without any long-term commitments or subscriptions required.

It offers you the following benefits: 

✔️ Reach a wider audience online 

✔️ Easy access for all customers 

✔️ Possibility to scale your business 

✔️ Lower overhead costs, such as rent 

✔️ Ability to leverage customer data 

The downside is that relying solely on online platforms may limit face-to-face interaction with customers, potentially affecting personal relationships and losing out on immediate customer feedback. 

If you choose this option, be aware of these disadvantages: 

❌ Higher marketing costs 

❌ Third-party platforms may reduce profit 

❌ Challenges in establishing a community presence

❌ Limited control over meal prep delivery service 

❌ Increased competition online 

3. Subscription meal prep businesses 

Taking the on-demand business model a step further, you can offer your customers meal kits on a subscription basis. 

Instead of reordering each week or month, customers can sign up for automatic renewals, ensuring they receive their meal kits exactly when needed. 

This option is ideal for businesses aiming to provide individuals and families with regularly scheduled deliveries of prepared meal kits. 

To set this up, you’ll need your own website, and you won’t be able to partner with third-party delivery services.

This has the potential to offer: 

✔️ More sales opportunities through an online market

✔️ Convenience for customers

✔️ Regular revenue generation for your business

✔️ Avoidance of third-party platform fees

✔️ Opportunities for upselling and cross-selling

✔️ Enhanced customer loyalty through personalized subscription options

Unfortunately, the majority of e-commerce platforms that allow you to set up subscription functionality for your website also have some downsides. 

These incude: 

❌ Limited customization options for subscription features

❌ Dependency on platform stability and updates

❌ Potential for technical glitches affecting subscription management

❌ Difficulty in integrating with other business systems

😎 Looking for a solution?

While most e-commerce platforms lack subscription functionality in their base offering, Subbly stands out as an all-in-one subscription solution. 

Instead of requiring additional plugins for subscription features, Subbly comes fully equipped right from the start. 

It addresses all the previously mentioned disadvantages by offering a comprehensive range of features, including:

🔥 Extensive customization options for subscription features

🔥 Reliable and stable subscription management without technical glitches

🔥 Seamless integration with other business systems

Explore Subbly’s features and see whether it’s the right fit for your business with a free 14-day trial.

Get Access to a Kitchen (If Required)

With your funds in hand, you can start getting your meal prep business off the ground. 

The premises you need to prepare your meals will largely depend on the number of customers you have. 

At first, a small kitchen to prepare and package your meals might be enough. 

However, as your food service business takes off, you might need a bigger storage space, more or better equipment, and more space for staff to work effectively. 

This is often the progression that meal-planning businesses follow: 

🏠 Meal prep at home 

This is the most cost-effective option, which is why entrepreneurs often start preparing meals at home and selling locally before they expand to larger markets. 

This also gives them a chance to perfect their product offering and properly gauge whether there’s sufficient demand to justify the ongoing cost of renting a premises. 

If you start at home, make sure that you’re not breaking any local zoning laws or health regulations. 

Many areas have specific rules governing food preparation for sale, including requirements for commercial kitchen facilities and permits. 

🏭 Rent a kitchen 

If you’re ready to move your business to its own facilities, consider renting a commercial kitchen with cleaning services and storage facilities included. 

You could also explore renting facilities from local catering businesses or restaurants during off-peak hours, which can be more cost-effective. 

An additional option is partnering with another food entrepreneur to share a commercial kitchen, which is more affordable than renting alone. 

If you’re expanding an existing restaurant with an established kitchen setup, you may not need to secure additional space.

Get Business Insurance, Permits, and Licenses

Running a business means dealing with legal requirements and protecting your business against risks. Here’s what you need to focus on:

1. Stay legal 

Every state has different requirements for food businesses, so you need to research the regulations where you plan to operate.

For example, California’s Cottage Food Law allows individuals to prepare and sell certain low-risk foods from a home kitchen. 

To comply, you need to register with your local health department, complete a food safety training course, and ensure your kitchen meets specific health and safety standards.

In New York, you need a Home Processor Exemption, which requires you to adhere to specific food labeling guidelines and pass a home kitchen inspection.

Make sure you understand and follow the regulations in your state to keep your business legal and running smoothly.

2. Get the right insurance 

What happens to your business if it gets sued for food poisoning or transferring allergens to customers?

Without the right insurance, a lawsuit can ruin your business financially. That’s why you need to take out cover for your company. 

General liability insurance protects you against claims of bodily injury and property damage, while product liability insurance specifically covers you for issues related to the food you sell.

These are examples of the kinds of insurance that you need to look into as a food entrepreneur. 

On top of this, you should also consider the following: 

✅ Commercial property insurance: Covers damage to your business property, including your kitchen equipment and supplies.

✅ Commercial auto insurance: If you use a vehicle for deliveries, this covers accidents and damages related to business use.

✅ Workers’ compensation insurance: This is required if you have employees. It covers medical expenses and lost wages for workers who get injured on the job.

When choosing your insurance, make sure you carefully consider your insurance needs, shop around, and get several quotes before selecting a provider and insurance plan. 

Market Your Business

Simply starting a business won’t guarantee customers. You need to make people aware of your business and tell them how your meals will enrich their lives. 

To achieve this, you need a kickass marketing plan that effectively communicates your value proposition.

There are three ways to approach this: 

• Do it yourself: You can research marketing tactics for a meal prep business and do your best to implement the suggestions yourself. This is the most cost-effective option and allows you to have full control over your marketing strategies and messaging. However, it requires significant time to learn and execute it effectively.
• Hire freelancers: You could onboard a freelancer who specializes in your preferred marketing channel, such as social media marketing or pay-per-click advertising. Freelancers are a cost-effective option, but they may not uphold the same standards as agencies, potentially compromising on quality.
• Hire an agency: Lastly, you could hand this task over to an experienced agency. This is the most expensive choice, but you will get flawless work and your business will easily be seen by your customers. 

Your marketing strategy should be clearly outlined in your business plan, so try to have this sorted out before you launch. 

Invest in good photography 

While doing your own marketing is commendable, hiring a professional food photographer can significantly boost your efforts. 

In the food industry, visual appeal is everything, and subpar or average photographs can cost you customers. 

Food photography is more complex than it may seem at first glance, often involving advanced techniques that go beyond simply taking pictures of food. 

It also requires specialized equipment, such as additional lighting, reflectors, backdrops, and sometimes even props to enhance the presentation of the food. 

Check out this video to learn more about the unbelievable tricks photographers use to make food look delicious.