How to Choose the Right Menu Options for Your Meal Prep Company

When you have a meal prep company, you must focus on your customers, and this involves thinking like they would when designing your menu items. Your customers are the key to your success in the meal prep food delivery business. So, how do you know what meal prep food items they want to eat?

Making the Right Choice When It Comes to Meal Prep

Putting together menu options involves a lot more than just what sounds delicious or might look good. Think about all the ingredients when creating your meal prep boxes.

• Variety – When you cater to a lot of people you will automatically be offering a large array of food items based on varying flavour profiles. Create dishes that will appeal to most of your target audience’s preferences. Something like potatoes is a versatile ingredient that many people enjoy. Options for preparing this ingredient range from salads and soups to roasted or baked. Change the spices in your potato dish weekly to keep things interesting and keep people from getting bored with the same flavour profile. This also allows you to cater to a wide array of tastes.
• Dietary Restrictions – To aim at attracting and maintaining a variety of clients you will want to create dishes that cater to different diets. You will want to provide meal options that are vegetarian-friendly, vegan, gluten-free, and meat-forward. This will help ensure you are appealing to multiple preferences, giving you a wide customer base.  Listing all the ingredients in your online menu helps customers make choices so they know exactly what they are getting. Help them easily identify their favourite food options by labelling meals as vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free.
• Latest Trends – With so many people tuned into social media, this is a great place to identify the current trends. It is important to cater to your target audience with popular food items and reap the rewards of free advertising. Successful social media marketing campaigns bring in new customers through posts and shares of trending items. Many people are currently focused on healthier items so try putting together dishes that are nutrient-filled and well-balanced.
• With the Season – Making dishes that are filled with seasonal ingredients means your dishes will be flavourful and fresh. Your customers will appreciate the effort you put into coming up with menu choices that represent a specific time of year. Themes centred around a specific ingredient like pumpkin make it fun for customers to purchase from you. Give them meal prep food items like pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin salads to be on trend with the Autumn season.
• Travel Well – Making the right choices when it comes to a meal prep menu relies heavily upon how well items travel. Your customer will either be buying from you in-house and taking the food back home or waiting for delivery. This means the dishes are sitting for a while and moving around with the bumps on the road. Consider which items will arrive at their destination unscathed after getting tossed around. Deep-fried foods tend to get mushy after some time, but grilled items hold much better. Think of these types of things when coming up with meals for your customers. Also, make sure you package everything really well, so no leaks and spills happen along the way.
• Cost – Purchasing large quantities of items can save you some money. When items are on sale, alter your online menu to create your meal prep dishes in line with the ingredients you choose. You can save on costs while still creating fresh and delicious food for people to enjoy. Make your customers happy too by offering meal kits that include an appetizer, main course, and dessert for a lower price than ordering separate items. This increases your chances of them purchasing more often when they find out they enjoy something they’ve never had before, like your special desserts for instance. 

Bonus

Customer feedback is important so you know if you are on the right track to success. Listen to what your customers have to say on social media, google reviews, and ask them to complete a questionnaire about your food and service. This will let you know if you are making the right meal prep items by finding out what most of your target audience likes. If there is something they absolutely hate or is unpopular, you should nix it from the menu and come up with a different offering. Getting a questionnaire completed may be easier if you offer a discount code for participating.

Finally…

Show off all your amazing meal prep food items online with pictures thanks to a website built for prepared meal ordering. Contact us at Meal Prep Tech to get started grabbing the attention of future customers with all the deliciousness that makes mouths water and orders come in.