Top 5 Tips for Starting a Meal Plan Delivery Business
Welcome back to your favorite meal prep business blog! Today I will be answering a question I received from one of you kickass viewers; “What are your top five tips for starting a meal plan company?” This is the culmination of years of hard work, making (and learning to fix) many mistakes, and of course, lots of success.
So you’ve decided to take a dive into the deep end. You’ve got your big boy (or girl) pants on, and you’re ready to develop your own meal delivery service. Here are the five most important pieces of information you’ll hear today in regards to turning that service into a success.
Number one: KISS. No, not me. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Start with the basics. Don’t overcomplicate what can already be a daunting task. Instead, keep your menu small at the beginning. Utilize your friends and family as customers. Go after connections you’ve already formed. Don’t kill yourself trying to chase down the most intricate forms of software or having 50 items on your plate. You might get to that point, and if you follow the advice in these posts you will, but for now, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Number two: Escape the machine. Does that sound scary? It’s not. It’s actually one of the keys to your success. Escaping the machine means keeping yourself from being the sole backbone of your business. This can be difficult. You might feel like a first-time mom leaving her child with a babysitter. But trust me, this is a crucial step. Don’t let yourself be the one single person that the whole operation relies on. You need to be able to take a step back, take a breath, go on a vacation, without your business falling to pieces. If you find that you cannot escape the machine without the system breaking down, you need to figure out a more efficient solution. Do you need to hire someone to delegate a few tasks to? Do you need to find some software that will make your job easier? Figure out what works for you, and implement it as soon as you can.
Number three: Plan for growth. Always, always, always expect success. Growth can kill you if you are not prepared for it. So you need to plan for growth. Find software that will expand with you, a program that is customizable and has room for expansion. Consider, “what am I doing manually that may need expedited in the future when I am doing so on a larger scale?” Where are you going to store your food? Do you have enough chefs to fulfill your orders? These are the questions you’ll ask yourself when you start planning for growth.
Number four: Commit to learning. This will not only improve your business, but it will grow you in your everyday life. Being open to new ideas and being able to acknowledge when you need to grow in a certain area is a huge mountain to climb. However, it’s worth it. Think of the view at the top of Mount Everest. Do you think seeing that expanse of land feels like an accomplishment? I’d say so. Commit yourself to strive to have a thirst for knowledge like never before, and watch your business flourish as you apply your newfound intellect.
Last but certainly not least, number five: Seek critiques (ooh that rhymes!). Seriously though, this too will benefit you not only in the world of food delivery services, but in your life as well. Paired with learning, being able to take criticism helps you know what areas you still need to pursue growth in. If you’re open to learning something new, you’ll automatically be better at listening to your critics with an open mind. While not all of them have something helpful to say, many of them will. Seek critiques from people you trust, people who want to see you succeed, and thank them for being honest with you. Take every piece of advice with a grain of salt, and you’ll start to find yourself making major improvements to your company based on simple words from others.
Following these five tips, you will avoid ninety percent of the mistakes I made when I first started my business, FitFoodFresh. Now we are the top ranked food delivery service in Florida, so I’d say it’s working out for us. Listen to my advice, keep up with my content, and you’ll find yourself number one in your region as well. Rock on my friends.