Starting a Lunch Delivery Business
Starting a lunch delivery business sounds like an easy business that you can operate from your home, but like any business it requires an intelligent plan, a good marketing strategy, good pricing technique and qualified personnel. A lunch delivery business involves either cooking the food and delivering to busy professionals working in office buildings, or partnering up with several restaurants to deliver their products and taking a commission.
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Things You'll Need
- Business plan Business registration Star product (sandwich, wrap, salad, etc.) Promotional fliers
Instructions
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Create a business plan. Write out the general idea of the lunch delivery business. Determine where you will operate from, how your customers will know about you, what type of equipment you will need and how much money you need to start. Include financial projections and calculate how much business you need to break even or make a profit. Also add any trends about your business, such as how many restaurants are in the area, how many office buildings are opening up in the next year and how many people would potentially use your service.
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Conduct research. One effective way to find out if your lunch delivery service will be successful is to approach several large office buildings and ask permission to send an email survey to their employees. Create the free survey using an online service such as surveymonkey.com, and keep it to 10 questions or less. Ask questions to determine how often they would consider using a lunch delivery service, what type of food they are most likely to order and what price range is comfortable for them. According to Bizymoms.com, "90 percent of working professionals purchase lunch from the outside." Determine how many of them would prefer to stay inside.
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Register your business. The easiest way to register a business is to set up a sole proprietorship with your local courthouse. In most states, the only requirement is paying a filing fee of less than $25 and submitting a “doing business as” form. Check with your local government regarding food regulations and kitchen safety standards if you’re cooking the food from your home.
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Advertise your services. Distribute fliers and send emails to the office buildings and businesses in your target area. Include prices and contact information. A good strategy is to start with a star product, such as a homemade sandwich that’s gotten fantastic reviews, and advertise this sole product to get people familiar with your service. Add more food items as your popularity increases or as costumers request it. Offer group discounts to encourage larger orders.
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Streamline your operation. Buy packaging supplies from a wholesale supplier (instead of retailer), and offer snacks and drinks to accompany the main product.
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Tips & Warnings
According to the National Restaurant Association, Americans choose fruit first for lunch, then hamburgers, then wraps. Salads are also very popular. Start your lunch delivery service offering one these items first.
References
- Photo Credit onion pie image by AGphotographer from Fotolia.com
