How to Start a Meal Kit Delivery Service

The online meal kit industry is exploding! Our world has changed dramatically since the start of Covid-19. People are ordering in a lot more, which is a big thing we’ve noticed. As a result, distribution systems as well as all aspects of the food industry are in high demand. This includes general food delivery (takeout, fast food), meal delivery (freshly prepared meals, meal planning), and, of course, meal kit delivery.

We’ll try to address the question of “how to start a meal kit delivery service” in this post. We’ll focus on the route planning and optimization aspects of this form of meal kit service in particular. Now it’s time to be a little more specific about how to start a meal kit service.

Table of Contents

• What is a Meal Kit Delivery Business?
• How To Start a Meal Kit Service
• Meal Delivery’s Big Problem: The Difficultly of Optimizing Delivery Routes
• How to Organize Routes for a Meal Delivery Business
• Final Thoughts

What is a Meal Kit Delivery Business?

How do Meal Kit Delivery Services Work?

A meal kit is a “subscription-based” food service. This is in line with consumer product trends such as Dollar Shave Club, Quip, and other subscription-based items (per month or week). The flow for the meal-kit delivery service will be as follows:

• Customers buy meal kits from the company’s website.
• The ingredients are prepared by the meal-kit company;
• All of the meal kits are packaged by the online meal-kit delivery service;
• The boxes are picked up by shipping and sent to the customers.

Why Do Customers Order Meal Kit Delivery Services?

For a number of purposes, many consumers may choose to order an online meal kit delivery:

• They are not required to go to the grocery store to do their grocery shopping.
• They will be able to obtain fresh ingredients.
• They are provided with new recipes in the form of recipe cards.
• They help to reduce food waste.
• They are in good health and are content.

What’s the Meal Kit business landscape like?

There are numerous players, both large and small. The larger corporations in the United States and elsewhere are well-known brands such as:

• HelloFresh
• Blue Apron
• Chef’s Plate
• Many more!

In the meal kit industry, these firms have a sizable market share.

Many local kit companies and entrepreneurs, such as blue apron, specialize in providing meals and meal packages to the community. Then there are companies that specialize in plant-based meal delivery, such as Purple Carrot. Davids still have room against Goliaths, as is the case in all industries (such as HelloFresh or Amazon). The meal kit industry is no exception. The meal kit and kit delivery industry is booming, and there’s plenty of space for a company to build a fantastic kit business for a local market and attract new customers. College students and working professionals alike prefer these.

How To Start a Meal Kit Service

To get started in the food industry, the package sector, or the meal kit delivery market, there are a few steps to take. Here’s a short rundown of what you should think about when writing your business plan:

1. Begin your market research based on your business concept;
2. Investigate your target market or customers.
3. Obtain a business license;
4. Set up your commercial kitchen;
5. Find the best meal kit delivery providers by doing some research.
6. Begin the process of creating meals and menus;
7. Create your own kitchen or use one that already exists in a restaurant;
8. Start looking at meal kit distribution companies and facilities that are related to the meal kit industry.
9. Check to see if getting a route planner for delivery drivers is a better option.
10. Develop a strategic plan;
11. Run it by as many people as possible, including a meal kit delivery service that already exists.
12. Refine your online meal kit delivery service’s business model;
13. Create an online platform for ordering meal kits;
14. Begin to market and promote the advantages of avoiding grocery stores to your customers.
15. Choose from a variety of payment options for your services (in-house or outsourced kit delivery);
16. Begin your exciting journey as an entrepreneur.

We might add even more steps to this list, but we’ll stop here for now. We’ve also written extensively on a variety of other subjects, including a series of posts on how to start a delivery service.

Meal Delivery’s Big Problem: The Difficultly of Optimizing Delivery Routes

EasyRoutes specializes in route optimization. Since delivery is such an important part of the meal kit operation, any food business that makes deliveries needs a high level of precision and optimization. It is important because it is a component of the customer experience. This is correct for a variety of reasons:

• Path planning is a difficult task. When you have a lot of stops, as is usually the case for meal kit delivery services, it’s almost impossible to calculate the best route.
• A Meal Kit company wants its deliveries to be fast and on time. Consumers expect their meal kits to arrive at their door in a timely manner.
• As a result, the success of a meal kit delivery company is dependent on the success of the delivery component, which is dependent on the value of the route planning application.

We have a large team of dedicated experts looking into solving the optimization problem for you because it is so complex. This will allow you to concentrate on your meal kit service and ensure that every meal kit your customers receive is the best meal kit they’ve ever had.

EasyRoutes is used by many food entrepreneurs and meal kit delivery services to support them with their meal kit delivery businesses.

How to Organize Routes for a Meal Delivery Business

So you’ve started your meal kit business. On your website, you have a menu. Your menu is a hit with the public. You’ve already received several orders. Three meal kits per week are requested by a customer on the east side of town. Another on the west side of town is looking for two weekly meal kits. You put together your meal package. Get the ingredients, print the recipes, and save the room.

This continues to expand until the business has progressed to the next level. You’re worried about “how am I going to arrange all these deliveries in a manageable way?” instead of only concentrating on meal kits, supplies, and just making meal kits.

You can have one, two, or three drivers, and determining the best course of action is difficult. How are we going to get all of these meal kits to their proper locations? How will we get these meal kits to you in a timely manner? While maximizing the efficiency of our delivery drivers?

Route planning comes into play at this stage.

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EasyRoutes Route Planning

Our solution is to give you a simple, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface that allows you to quickly access your Shopify orders and addresses, build routes, and have your drivers deliver your meal kits in no time.

Users of our meal kit delivery service have been able to:

• Select the orders they need to ruote.
• Create routes with the ability to customize them.
• Share routes with their drivers or do their own deliveries
• Save a significant amount of time, money, and kilometres/miles on the route.

As a result, they can devote all of the time and money saved to what matters most to their business: improving their core product and pleasing their customers.

Learn more about EasyRoutes or install the EasyRoutes route planning app on Shopify.

Final Thoughts

In short, we know from customer feedback that improving this aspect of the process is critical, and we want to be able to assist you as much as possible so you can concentrate on your ingredients, recipes, and other market-relevant information. Safe deliveries!