DEV Community

Rajnish Kumar
Rajnish Kumar

Posted on

How much does it cost to start a meal prep business?

A meal prep business has been a huge savior of the food industry in the midst of pandemics. The hysteria among the people to go out of their houses had a drastic impact on the food industry. The idea of cooking restaurant-like meals at home from the proportioned ingredients and recipes being delivered on your doorstep felt like tapping into a completely different dimension. The meal prep business has made its grounds as the millennials are preferring meal kits over premade restaurant food.

Stats of the industry

The revenue generated by the meal kit industry was about 10.26 billion in 2020 and is expected to gain an annual growth of about 13.0% from 2021 to 2028. The revenue forecast for the meal prep industry is estimated to be USD 27.33 billion by Grand View Research.

Omicron impact on this business idea

Omicron is the latest variant of the Covid-19 virus. According to the latest research, it is the fastest spreading virus about 200 to 300 times more transmissible than the Delta variant. Omicron is highly transmissible and extremely contagious. The surge in Omicron Covid-19 cases has largely impacted the meal prep business. The number of customers preferring to order meal kits whilst staying home has multiplied as a result the meal prep business has skyrocketed.

A few trends that will be predicted to shape in this pandemic era are as below.

Sustainability

Meal-kits have brought a lot of freshness to the food industry. Its inclination towards environment-friendly packaging is exceptionally huge as compared to other food-related businesses. The future of the meal prep industry is expected to see less use of plastic and more environment-friendly packaging.

Special Diets

The meal prep business has shown an incredible rise in the delivery of special diets to customers. People find it very easy to order the ingredients in meal kits, which are difficult to collect otherwise.

Organic food

Grocery stores may or may not supply such foods. The meal prep business makes such foods available to customers readily.

Choice of LifeStyle

Today people hardly have time to cater to their basic needs like cooking food. The workstyle and jobs do not allow them to give effort and time in this direction. The meal prep business comes as a savior and brings pre-made meals and meal kits for supporting the evolving lifestyle of people.

Cost affecting features

It’s nearly impossible to define a standard cost to build a meal prep software. There are various factors on which the cost of app development relies. a few such features are:

  • Designing of meal prep application
  • Number of features
  • Compatibility with various OS
  • The platform of the application

The above points clearly imply that the more the complexity of the application, the more would be the cost. And the more the number of features integrated into the app the larger would be the price of development of the meal prep software. The developer skills also impact the cost of the product.

The team for the development of the application has a huge impact on the cost incurred. In this case, the cost spent is on a per hour basis. An app development team includes:

  • Product Analyst and manager
  • Front-end developer
  • Backend developer
  • UX/UI Designer
  • QA Manager
  • The Marketing Team

Yo!meals - a viable & cost-effective solution

The previous section clearly shows the extensiveness required to build a meal prep software. Each and every step would require planning and cost as well. Choosing a whilte label solution to bring your meal prep business online and cater to a larger customer base seems to be a better and viable solution. Yo!Meals is an integrated solution that provides all the detailed features and brings you in alignment with the industry. It is a simple and cost-effective way to build meal prep software for your business.

The following are a few reasons that explain why choosing a white label solution would be a better option.

  • Less time consuming, time is money
  • A market-ready solution
  • Customizable as per the client
  • Less confusion and better decisions

Conclusion

The world is under the impact of pandemics and the need for a meal prep business is increasing day by day, as is the hysteria of Covid-19 among the people. The cost to design any software depends on various factors discussed above. Using a white label solution will make it simpler for you to bring your meal prep business to par with your competitors at a fast pace. This business has become more likely a support to the world. There is no time to waste. Let’s join hands to bring meals and meal kits to the doorsteps of customers and help them stay safe indoors.

Top comments (0)