How To Start A Meal Kit Delivery Service: A Comprehensive Guide

12 min readMay 5, 2023

The meal kit delivery industry has experienced explosive growth in recent years, led by major players such as Blue Apron and Hello Fresh in the USA, as well as newer, more innovative companies like Sunbasket. This billion-dollar market shows no signs of slowing down, making it an attractive opportunity for entrepreneurs with the resources and vision to build a successful meal kit delivery ecommerce business.

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the key stages of launching and scaling your meal kit startup, from developing a research strategy to building an MVP website and acquiring customers. We’ll also touch on the importance of recipe development and beta testing, as well as the need for funding and patience in a business that requires economies of scale before profit can be actualized. By the end of this guide, you’ll have the tools and knowledge you need to kick off your own meal-kit journey and carve out a space in this dynamic and growing industry.

The Basics of a Meal Kit Subscription Service

In simple words, a meal kit is a box that includes pre-measured ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes. You can either get meal kits through a subscription-based service or pick them up at a grocery store. In the first case, customers can choose their meals and the number of people they want to feed. The company then delivers meal kits to the customers’ doorsteps with instructions on how to prepare the meals as well as all the ingredients they need to cook.

Meal kits have really clicked with on-the-go consumers who lack time to come up with a tasty home-made meal. Delivery meal kit services also mean no trip to the store, little to no prep time, and the chance to try new cuisines without forking out a ton of cash. Meal kits are also great for beginner chefs wanting to grow their culinary artistry as well as expert chefs looking to expand their recipe repertoire.

Meal kit delivery owes its concept to Sweden that stood at the gates of this sector in the late 2000-s. Sweden welcomed one of the first meal kit services aimed at achieving delicious home-cooked meals without the hassles of grocery shopping.

Currently, there are multiple meal kit services operating around the world. So, there has never been a better time to jump into this business if you’ve been itching to try.

A side note the industry currently relies heavily on discounting in order to acquire customers, it would be interesting to see businesses in this space offering value in the form of customer experience personalisation and freebies rather than discounts as has been done in other subscription spaces successfully.

Now, let’s focus on how this business makes money.

Food Service Business Model Outline

The majority of meal kit delivery services offer flexible subscription plans where customers pay a regular service fee. For example, Hello Fresh, which is America’s most popular meal kit, operates on the same basis.

Hello Fresh allows customers to choose their number of meals per week, number of people to feed and whether they want vegetrian meals and places an order. The service also includes a shipping fee.

Customers can easily opt-out of the meal kit services at any time and for whatever period they like. The service is available on both the company’s website and Android and iOS apps.

Now that we’ve studied the basics, let’s move on to actionable tips on how to start your meal-kit business.

Research Strategy and Differentiation

Conducting thorough research is a critical first step when starting a meal kit delivery ecommerce business. This research should include market analysis, competitor research, and understanding your target audience. By understanding your competitors’ offerings and identifying gaps in the market, you can develop a unique value proposition and differentiation that sets your business apart. Understanding your target audience’s preferences, dietary restrictions, and pain points can help you tailor your offerings to meet their needs.

Overall, developing a solid strategy and differentiation is crucial to the success of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business. Taking the time to conduct thorough research can help you understand the competitive landscape, identify gaps in the market, and create a unique value proposition that resonates with your target audience. By standing out in a crowded market and providing value to your customers, you can differentiate your business and set yourself up for success.

Conduct market research to understand the competition and identify gaps in the market
Determine your target audience and their preferences
Develop a unique value proposition and differentiator that sets you apart from competitors

Business Setup and Investment

The second step in starting a meal kit delivery ecommerce business is to set up your business and secure funding. This involves determining the legal structure of your business, creating a business plan, and securing funding through investors, loans, or personal savings.

First, it’s important to determine the legal structure of your business, such as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation (may vary depending on the country you intend to operate in). This will depend on factors such as the number of owners, liability concerns, and tax considerations. You will also need to register your business with the appropriate authorities and obtain any necessary licenses and permits.

Secondly, creating a business plan is crucial to the success of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business. This plan should include a detailed overview of your business, financial projections, marketing strategy, and management structure. It can also help you identify potential roadblocks and opportunities and create a roadmap for your business’s growth and development.

Finally, securing funding is essential to launching and scaling your meal kit delivery ecommerce business. This can be done through various means, such as seeking investors, applying for loans, or using personal savings. By securing funding, you can cover startup costs, such as website development, marketing, and hiring staff.

Overall, setting up your business and securing funding are crucial steps in starting a meal kit delivery ecommerce business. By determining the legal structure, creating a business plan, and securing funding, you can lay the foundation for a successful and profitable business.

Determine the legal structure of your business and register it with the appropriate authorities
Create a business plan and financial projections
Secure funding through investors, loans, or personal savings

Sourcing Warehouse and Logistics

Sourcing a warehouse and setting up logistics are critical steps in starting a meal kit delivery ecommerce business. This involves finding a suitable warehouse for storing ingredients and meal kit materials and creating an efficient system for shipping and delivering orders to customers.

When sourcing a warehouse, it’s important to consider factors such as location, size, and temperature control and any government or food and safety requirements that may apply. Once you have found a suitable warehouse, you can set up efficient logistics for shipping and delivering orders by selecting a reliable shipping carrier and investing in software or technology to streamline operations. By ensuring timely and accurate delivery, you can provide an excellent customer experience and build customer loyalty. Overall, establishing a strong logistics system is essential for the success and growth of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business.

Identify a warehouse and logistics partner for storing and shipping your meal kits
Negotiate favorable terms for storage and shipping rates

Design and UX Research

The design and user experience (UX) of your meal kit delivery ecommerce website can have a significant impact on your customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. In this step, you will conduct research to understand your target audience’s preferences and design an intuitive and aesthetically pleasing website that meets their needs.

To start, conducting UX research can help you identify pain points and preferences of your target audience when it comes to meal kit delivery ecommerce websites. This can include things like ease of use, mobile responsiveness, dietary preferences and customization options. Once you have identified these preferences, you can begin to design a website that meets these needs and incorporates your unique brand identity. This can include choosing colors, fonts, and imagery that reflect your brand and creating a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for customers to browse and purchase your meal kits.

Overall, investing time and resources into design and UX research can pay off in the long run by helping to create a website that meets the needs and preferences of your target audience. By providing an aesthetically pleasing and intuitive user experience, you can build customer loyalty and attract new customers to your meal kit delivery ecommerce business.

Remember some of the features designed at this stage will not be added until after launch, but investing in solid UX at this time will help inform the product roadmap for years to come.

Work with a UX Researcher to conduct competitor and user experience (UX) research to determine the most user-friendly design for your website and meal kit subscription service
Conduct UX research to test and iterate on an early stage clickable prototype
Work with a UX or Product Designer to create a visually appealing website and branding materials based on the design and research already conducted
Work with a Product Specialist to determine which features are possible and required for launch, work together to define the minimum viable product (MVP) for launch
It makes sense at this stage to look at Shopify and understand what is possible and what kind of UX some of the out of the box apps provide, in order to know what might be possible for launch here are a few to look at: Awtomic, Smartrr, Recharge and Bold
Some good references to look at are: Gousto (UK), Sunbasket (USA), HelloFresh (Global), MarleySpoon (USA)

It’s worth investigating other subscription businesses such as: Ready Meals, Wine Clubs, Shave Clubs

MVP Website Build Using Shopify and Shopify Subscription Apps

Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) website using Shopify and Shopify subscription apps is a critical step in launching a meal kit delivery ecommerce business. Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform that allows you to easily set up an online store and manage orders, inventory, and payments. By leveraging Shopify subscription apps, you can offer flexible subscription options for customers, such as weekly or monthly deliveries of your meal kits.

To build an MVP website using Shopify and subscription apps, you will need to select a Shopify subscription plan and choose a customizable theme that reflects your brand identity. You can then add products and images, set up payment and shipping options, and integrate your website with your warehouse and logistics systems. By creating a user-friendly and efficient website, you can provide a positive customer experience and set the foundation for the growth of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business.

Use Shopify to build a minimum viable product (MVP) website that showcases your meal kits and subscription plans
One of the best ways to bootstrap a startup is to leverage SaaS products and well built existing web technologies rather than coding something from scratch, taking a no-code or low-code approach means using the tools that are available and require a minimum amount of development time (if any) to get work working
Integrate subscription apps that allow customers to sign up for weekly or monthly deliveries some options look at: Awtomic, Smartrr, Recharge and Bold
Test the end to end flow and work with the Product and UX specialists to ensure you can provide a usable baseline MVP experience and a seamless and simple conversion flow
Consider the automated emails which will need to be sent at key stages of the ordering process, Shopify makes the basics fairly easy, but you will most probably have to create some custom email flows too

Recipe Development

Recipe development and testing are critical steps in establishing a successful meal kit delivery ecommerce business. By developing high-quality, easy-to-prepare recipes and regularly rotating your menu, you can provide a unique and enjoyable experience for your customers and help to drive growth for your business.

Recipe Development: Once you have established your business model and logistics, you will need to develop recipes for your meal kits. This involves selecting ingredients, testing recipes, and creating step-by-step instructions for customers to follow. You may need to work with a team of chefs or food scientists to develop recipes that are easy to prepare and deliver high-quality, flavorful meals.
Recipe Testing: Once you have developed your recipes, it’s important to conduct thorough testing to ensure that they can be easily prepared by customers and meet your quality standards. You can conduct testing by preparing and taste-testing the meals yourself or by providing samples to a small group of beta testers. You can also use customer feedback to refine and improve your recipes over time.
Menu Rotation: As you launch and scale your meal kit delivery business, it’s important to regularly rotate your menu to keep customers engaged and offer variety. This involves developing new recipes and phasing out older ones, based on factors such as popularity and seasonality. By regularly updating your menu, you can keep customers interested and differentiate your business from competitors.

Beta Testing the Website and Business Model

Beta testing is an important step in the development of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business. This involves testing your website and business model with a small group of users to identify and address any issues or areas for improvement before launching to a wider audience.

To begin beta testing, you can select a small group of users from your target audience and provide them with access to your website and meal kit delivery service. You can then collect feedback through surveys or interviews to identify any usability issues or areas for improvement. This feedback can help you refine your website and business model to better meet the needs and preferences of your target audience.

Overall, beta testing is a crucial step in ensuring the success of your meal kit delivery ecommerce business. By collecting feedback and making necessary improvements before launching to a wider audience, you can improve the user experience and increase customer satisfaction. This can help to build customer loyalty and ultimately drive growth for your business.

Conduct beta testing with a small group of customers to gather feedback and improve your website and business model
Address any issues or concerns raised by beta testers, iterate on the digital product, physical product and logistics until you have a delightful end-to-end delivery to unboxing and product usage experience

Launch Your Meal Kit Start-up

Launching your meal kit delivery ecommerce business is an exciting and crucial step in turning your vision into a reality. This involves implementing your website and business model, and opening up to a wider audience. By launching effectively, you can generate buzz and attract customers, while establishing a strong reputation in the marketplace.

Start small in a single market and learn as you go, continue to gather customer feedback and digital product data
Launch your meal kit delivery business to the public with a marketing campaign that targets your ideal audience
Monitor your website and customer feedback to make any necessary changes or improvements
Iron out any UX, service, quality or shipping issues

Scale and Acquire Customers

Scaling your meal kit delivery ecommerce business and acquiring customers is a key component of achieving long-term success. Scaling involves expanding your operations to accommodate a growing customer base and increasing demand for your meal kits. This could include hiring additional staff, upgrading your technology infrastructure, and securing additional funding.

Acquiring customers involves developing and implementing effective marketing strategies to attract and retain customers. This could include targeted social media advertising, influencer partnerships, referral programs, and email marketing campaigns. By building a strong brand identity, providing high-quality products and services, and offering competitive pricing and subscription options, you can differentiate yourself from competitors and build a loyal customer base.

Overall, scaling and acquiring customers are critical components of building a successful meal kit delivery ecommerce business. By continually refining and improving your business model, and implementing effective marketing strategies, you can attract new customers and increase revenue, while building a strong reputation in the marketplace.

Scale your business by increasing production and expanding your delivery area
Use various marketing channels to acquire new customers, such as social media advertising, influencer marketing, and email marketing
A great way to scale and build website domain authority is through link building activities, for a business like this consider approaching high value online publications and offering key journalists samples of your product and experience in order to secure write ups and for the to link to your website
Other strategies to consider are affiliate marketing, promos and giveaways, discounting, events and celebrity partnerships
Measure and track customer acquisition costs and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly

Conclusion

Launching a meal kit delivery ecommerce business is a challenging yet rewarding journey. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can establish a solid foundation for your business and set yourself up for success. Remember to prioritize customer satisfaction, differentiate your offerings, and continuously refine your processes and offerings to meet the evolving needs of your customers.

Remember, success in the meal kit delivery service industry requires a willingness to adapt to changing customer preferences and market trends. Keep an eye on your competition, stay on top of emerging food trends, and be prepared to pivot your business strategy if needed. With dedication, hard work, and a little bit of luck, you can build a thriving meal kit delivery business that brings joy and convenience to customers’ lives. So, take the first step and begin your meal-kit journey today!