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Plant Powered Kitchen, Arizona

Soniayekkalar

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Hi everyone! My name is Sonia and I just started a vegan takeout/delivery kitchen. English is my third language so please feel free to ask me questions if my sentences don’t make sense Hopefully, I can rephrase them.

After almost 5 months, I barely make enough money to cover our Chef paycheck (I’m paying from my pocket for rent, ingredients, advertising, …). I had savings for start up and I was ready for losing money for at least one year. However, I’m getting close to losing all my saving in the middle of the process. The quality of our food is really good (organic ingredients, no cross contamination..,) and our reviews are fantastic. The biggest problem I see is that my kitchen only serves customers with plant based life style. I’m vegan too and don’t want to add animal products to my menu. So I have been looking for a way to expand my options by adding gluten free items which helped a little but not significantly. I was thinking to sell our vegan breakfast bowl with vegan sausages gravy and sausage pizza which are our most popular items in whole foods market. However, I have a hard time to start working on this and understanding the steps (specially for packaging and nutrition label…). I would appreciate it if you can help me with understanding the process. I also love to hear your feedback and suggestions about my business. Is there anything I need to focus on before looking for an opportunity to work with Whole Foods? Thanks for your time. Your advice means a world to me.
 
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Yea, any niche food that is limited by geography will struggle, unless you pick a great location. Your only option is to produce items that can be shipped in a larger geography, hence increasing your total audience. Can you make any plant-based items that have a nationwide appeal? And can be shipped without spoiling?
 

Soniayekkalar

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Yea, any niche food that is limited by geography will struggle, unless you pick a great location. Your only option is to produce items that can be shipped in a larger geography, hence increasing your total audience. Can you make any plant-based items that have a nationwide appeal? And can be shipped without spoiling?
Thank you for your response! You are the reason we started to do something meaningful in our lives. This kitchen is our passion project not our source of income which makes the process more bearable.
Our kitchen is located in central Phoenix, Az. It might be surprising but Arizona is a very vegan friendly state compared to other places I have been. One challenge I see is regarding delivery radius set by DoorDash and Uber eat. We have people asking if we can deliver our food to their areas (Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale,…) but unfortunately I don’t have any control over it. I did some research and it is doable with special warmers designed for delivery purposes but it doesn’t resolve the delivery issue with delivery apps (and to be honest, I don’t think it’s a sustainable practice to burn gas to deliver one or two orders). If I can find a way to daily deliver my warm vegan breakfast and pizzas to local stores, I’m pretty sure we can start making money or at least stop losing money in a few months. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we still have a considerable potential customers in the neighborhood but I can’t distribute the products to them as long as I’m dependent on delivery apps that have so many limitations in addition to their high service fees.
 

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Thank you for your response! You are the reason we started to do something meaningful in our lives. This kitchen is our passion project not our source of income which makes the process more bearable.
Our kitchen is located in central Phoenix, Az. It might be surprising but Arizona is a very vegan friendly state compared to other places I have been. One challenge I see is regarding delivery radius set by DoorDash and Uber eat. We have people asking if we can deliver our food to their areas (Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale,…) but unfortunately I don’t have any control over it. I did some research and it is doable with special warmers designed for delivery purposes but it doesn’t resolve the delivery issue with delivery apps (and to be honest, I don’t think it’s a sustainable practice to burn gas to deliver one or two orders). If I can find a way to daily deliver my warm vegan breakfast and pizzas to local stores, I’m pretty sure we can start making money or at least stop losing money in a few months. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we still have a considerable potential customers in the neighborhood but I can’t distribute the products to them as long as I’m dependent on delivery apps that have so many limitations in addition to their high service fees.

Part of your problem sounds like location. Green (vegan fast food) in Tempe is always jammed packed. Being on (or near) a college campus is imperative. Central Phoenix is not exactly a vegan hot bed, other than perhaps getting some trickle through via Grand Canyon U.
 

Soniayekkalar

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Part of your problem sounds like location. Green in Tempe is always jammed packed. Being on (or near) a college campus is imperative. Central Phoenix is not exactly a vegan hot bed, other than perhaps getting some trickle through via Grand Canyon
Part of your problem sounds like location. Green (vegan fast food) in Tempe is always jammed packed. Being on (or near) a college campus is imperative. Central Phoenix is not exactly a vegan hot bed, other than perhaps getting some trickle through via Grand Canyon U.
I think we can transfer our kitchen to Tempe because the ghost kitchen facility we have rented our kitchen from, have another facility in Tempe.

I would be grateful if you share your opinion on opening a kitchen-market instead of renting a ghost kitchen. The rent is higher but less than double. In this way, we can sell our own products in addition to delivery options as well as selling popular vegan brands so people can do their weekly shopping in one store instead of spending time on different stores (I have to go to safeway, sprouts, Whole Foods to find all items in my shopping list). We even can add dining in option if we can find a location with enough parking spaces.
 

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If I can find a way to daily deliver my warm vegan breakfast and pizzas to local stores
I don’t know if you can pull it off, but maybe you can deliver those bulk orders yourself. I do remember a small fish snacks producer in Spain who needed to deliver his products (frozen) to several local restaurants and shops. He ended up buying ancient Peugeot refrigerator van for about 3k, got someone to drive it twice a week and made a profit.
 
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Soniayekkalar

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I don’t know if you can pull it off, but maybe you can deliver those bulk orders yourself. I do remember a small fish snacks producer in Spain who needed to deliver his products (frozen) to several local restaurants and shops. He ended up buying ancient Peugeot refrigerator van for about 3k, got someone to drive it twice a week and made a profit.
Thanks for your response. I guess we can handle the delivery part but my challenge is packaging and adding nutrition labels to comply with the standards. I think I need to find a reliable local packer/ distributor first. I found a good company but they said they are focused on beverage not food.
 

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Have you ever thought about a food truck?

Central Phoenix is not exactly a vegan hot bed,

Actually there are a lot of vegan places in Downtown Phoenix, so your competition is pretty strong, considering you're not on a college campus.

So many other factors come into play, and the fact that this is a "passion project" and not a livelihood is concerning.

How is parking?
How is the food?
How is the presentation?
How are the price points?
How is your social media? (Vegan specialties are BIG topics on social media)

The fact that you're organic is going to raise prices and limit your audience, an audience which is primarily younger people... college kids are generally broke and many young people can't afford to pay $12 for a sandwich. Perhaps only be vegan, but not organic?

I believe the right location is the most important part of a project like this, backed up by food that is delicious and causes people to return.
 

Soniayekkalar

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Have you ever thought about a food truck?



Actually there are a lot of vegan places in Downtown Phoenix, so your competition is pretty strong, considering you're not on a college campus.

So many other factors come into play, and the fact that this is a "passion project" and not a livelihood is concerning.

How is parking?
How is the food?
How is the presentation?
How are the price points?
How is your social media? (Vegan specialties are BIG topics on social media)

The fact that you're organic is going to raise prices and limit your audience, an audience which is primarily younger people... college kids are generally broke and many young people can't afford to pay $12 for a sandwich. Perhaps only be vegan, but not organic?

I believe the right location is the most important part of a project like this, backed up by food that is delicious and causes people to return.
To be honest, now that I’m thinking about the kitchen, I think I call it passion project probably because I’m mentally trying to keep myself calm and avoid making emotional decisions such as adding non vegan items to the menu for a short time till we build our brand. I’m telling myself that we are not desperate for money to live a simple life so I can’t justify changing our value because of money. I’m working on the kitchen daily, reviewing the reports, answering the questions, finding vendors … it takes more time if it was only a real passion project!
We set our price based on acceptable non vegan restaurants(of course not McDonald and KFC). So our prices are less than most of vegan restaurants. That was the main reason we wanted to open a restaurant to offer fair price for people that care about the source of their food. But I think we can still reduce our price by removing organic products as you mentioned.
Most of our customers are returning customers which is really heartwarming and telling us our food quality and presentation are good but also shows us that we have not been successful in attracting new customers.
Regarding the food truck, I think about it almost every day!!! The only problem is that the initial investment is high (paying for both kitchen and truck is not practical for us at this time) and it’s hard to attract any investors based on our current cash flow. On the other hand, we need investment to reverse the situation. So, it’s a complicated situation.
Maybe having a food truck large enough to operate as a fully equipped kitchen can help to close the ghost kitchen but not sure if it’s a wise decision before discovering all options to make the current kitchen profitable.
 
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BizyDad

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You are actually not far from GCU. At least offering delivery there might make some sense. Get some grass roots marketing going there.

Create a secret menu, post a daily special from your secret menu on your insta and give people a reason to come in and try something "special". The secret menu is only available to people who show you the post.

I think some of the pictures of burritos and sandwiches on your Google listings need to go. Especially when compared to the pictures of the pizza or the ones with many of your items. Those pictures look vibrant. Most of the sandwiches and burritos look dull by comparison. If you have less pictures people will read your reviews, which are great.

Side note, can't wait to try your place out.
 

Soniayekkalar

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You are actually not far from GCU. At least offering delivery there might make some sense. Get some grass roots marketing going there.

Create a secret menu, post a daily special from your secret menu on your insta and give people a reason to come in and try something "special". The secret menu is only available to people who show you the post.

I think some of the pictures of burritos and sandwiches on your Google listings need to go. Especially when compared to the pictures of the pizza or the ones with many of your items. Those pictures look vibrant. Most of the sandwiches and burritos look dull by comparison. If you have less pictures people will read your reviews, which are great.

Side note, can't wait to try your place out.
You are right about pictures! :) vibrant ones were taken by professional photographer but over time, I took the pictures to save money whenever I added a new item. I will look into online photography lessons to learn some skills.

I will do some research on delivery to that area and talk to our chef about the secret menu. He’s not vegan but he is very experienced and really wants to help us to survive. Thanks for your tips! Can’t wait for your feedback on our food. Have a great rest of your day.
 

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I don't own and never have owned a restaurant but I know that repeat customers is often the only real path to profitability and that is why restaurants struggle most in the first year.

If you are looking to get more exposure to vegan and particularly organic vegan customers, I wonder if you could produce take-home vegan snacks and market them at Uptown Farmers Market?

There are a number of vegan sellers there but none that are restaurants that I know of and most of the people attending the market live in the central Phoenix area
 
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Soniayekkalar

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I don't own and never have owned a restaurant but I know that repeat customers is often the only real path to profitability and that is why restaurants struggle most in the first year.

If you are looking to get more exposure to vegan and particularly organic vegan customers, I wonder if you could produce take-home vegan snacks and market them at Uptown Farmers Market?

There are a number of vegan sellers there but none that are restaurants that I know of and most of the people attending the market live in the central Phoenix area
Thanks Trevor! I planned on going to a couple of events but due to high temperature in the area, they got postponed temporarily. I will check out the Uptown Farmers Market. Thanks for your advice!
 

Soniayekkalar

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Have you ever thought about a food truck?



Actually there are a lot of vegan places in Downtown Phoenix, so your competition is pretty strong, considering you're not on a college campus.

So many other factors come into play, and the fact that this is a "passion project" and not a livelihood is concerning.

How is parking?
How is the food?
How is the presentation?
How are the price points?
How is your social media? (Vegan specialties are BIG topics on social media)

The fact that you're organic is going to raise prices and limit your audience, an audience which is primarily younger people... college kids are generally broke and many young people can't afford to pay $12 for a sandwich. Perhaps only be vegan, but not organic?

I believe the right location is the most important part of a project like this, backed up by food that is delicious and causes people to return.
I plan to promote the kitchen on one of popular instagram pages. The page owner was so generous and he introduced the kitchen for free on his page when we opened the kitchen. Now I want to do paid promotion. He’s asking me about my budget and I don’t have any idea what are the criteria to propose a range. Is it based on the number of the followers and is it more standard fee? Thanks again!
 

Soniayekkalar

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I plan to promote the kitchen on one of popular instagram pages. The page owner was so generous and he introduced the kitchen for free on his page when we opened the kitchen. Now I want to do paid promotion. He’s asking me about my budget and I don’t have any idea what are the criteria to propose a range. Is it based on the number of the followers and is it more standard fee? Thanks again!
Have you ever thought about a food truck?



Actually there are a lot of vegan places in Downtown Phoenix, so your competition is pretty strong, considering you're not on a college campus.

So many other factors come into play, and the fact that this is a "passion project" and not a livelihood is concerning.

How is parking?
How is the food?
How is the presentation?
How are the price points?
How is your social media? (Vegan specialties are BIG topics on social media)

The fact that you're organic is going to raise prices and limit your audience, an audience which is primarily younger people... college kids are generally broke and many young people can't afford to pay $12 for a sandwich. Perhaps only be vegan, but not organic?

I believe the right location is the most important part of a project like this, backed up by food that is delicious and causes people to return.
Hi everyone! I wanted to give you some updates first. I have been working on some of the ideas you and other members mentioned and our sale increased by almost 20% which I’m really grateful for. Also, the kitchen was selected as the most loved and reliable kitchen by doordash and they increased our visibility as a reward:)

As you might recall, the location and the limited audience were our biggest challenges. So, I have been exploring delivery options and I came up with a potential delivery method. FYI, I have been so desperate to figure out a solution to expand the delivery radius recently that I might have gone too far with my imagination!!

I just saw a news that Arizona is one of the six states that walmart has selected to use drone delivery in. Before we started the kitchen, I was curious to see if we can use drones and save so much on delivery fees (we pay 30% of our sale to the delivery apps). But I found that it need permits, huge stations with expensive tools … to control the drone and at that time, there was no such a thing in Arizona.

Now that walmart is going to start this method soon, do you think it would make sense if I meet with the ghost kitchen representative to ask if they can use this method or pay walmart to use their service …?

Thanks and have a great rest of your day!
 
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Hi @Soniayekkalar , thanks for sharing. I'm in Sedona. I see electric bike deliveries every day here. I'm in the ebike business and the bikes they use I am very familiar with. They are not expensive.

Paying 30% for the app deliveries is tough for sure!'

I like @MJ DeMarco idea of looking at a national delivery service. There is a small(although they deliver Worldwide), restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI I've been to. Zingerman's Deli | Ann Arbor Michigan | Lunch | Dinner | Gluten Free

I also like the idea of selling healthy snacks. Seems it would have good margins.

I've always liked the ghost kitchen model. The challenge as you know is establishing accounts and a delivery system.

BTW...I am whole food plant based so next time I'm in Phoenix, I'll order!!
 

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Hi @Soniayekkalar , thanks for sharing. I'm in Sedona. I see electric bike deliveries every day here. I'm in the ebike business and the bikes they use I am very familiar with. They are not expensive.

Paying 30% for the app deliveries is tough for sure!'

I like @MJ DeMarco idea of looking at a national delivery service. There is a small(although they deliver Worldwide), restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI I've been to. Zingerman's Deli | Ann Arbor Michigan | Lunch | Dinner | Gluten Free

I also like the idea of selling healthy snacks. Seems it would have good margins.

I've always liked the ghost kitchen model. The challenge as you know is establishing accounts and a delivery system.

BTW...I am whole food plant based so next time I'm in Phoenix, I'll order!!
Thank you so much for your feedbacks. I will do some research on national delivery service you mentioned. I never heard of that.

The delivery fee (commissions) is not fair at all specially when these delivery apps like uber eats also needs restaurants to have something to deliver. It should be a win win situation. I get that they are reducing the cost of traditional delivery options such as having a full time delivery person. However, I still think it’s too much.

Out of curiosity, where can I find some information on your ebike?

I would love to hear about your feedback whenever you have a chance to try our food.

Thanks!
 

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Hi everyone! I wanted to give you some updates first. I have been working on some of the ideas you and other members mentioned and our sale increased by almost 20% which I’m really grateful for. Also, the kitchen was selected as the most loved and reliable kitchen by doordash and they increased our visibility as a reward:)
What specific actions did you take that led to the 20% increase in sales? Or which ones were the most beneficial to your business?
 
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What specific actions did you take that led to the 20% increase in sales? Or which ones were the most beneficial to your
What specific actions did you take that led to the 20% increase in sales? Or which ones were the most beneficial to your business?
We worked with a vegan instagram influencer to promote the kitchen and the result was beyond my understanding. Our followers were increased from 300 to 800 in a few days and we got so many questions about the items …
We used the booster option offered by instagram. We also added an inspiring quote on our boxes to show how much we need our customers support.
However, I really got shocked by the power of social media influencers which is kinda scary to be honest.
 

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We worked with a vegan instagram influencer to promote the kitchen and the result was beyond my understanding. Our followers were increased from 300 to 800 in a few days and we got so many questions about the items …
We used the booster option offered by instagram. We also added an inspiring quote on our boxes to show how much we need our customers support.
However, I really got shocked by the power of social media influencers which is kinda scary to be honest.
You should be able to scale this method quite well by turning your customers into influencers.

Make the food look super photogenic, and the packaging.

Paint a wall in a super photogenic way so people take pictures and share them there.

Offer a discount or reward to customers for sharing pictures to their Instagram or stories or TikTok.

Reshare that content to your socials to make your business seem super active and popular.
 

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Thank you so much for your feedbacks. I will do some research on national delivery service you mentioned. I never heard of that.

The delivery fee (commissions) is not fair at all specially when these delivery apps like uber eats also needs restaurants to have something to deliver. It should be a win win situation. I get that they are reducing the cost of traditional delivery options such as having a full time delivery person. However, I still think it’s too much.

Out of curiosity, where can I find some information on your ebike?

I would love to hear about your feedback whenever you have a chance to try our food.

Thanks!

This is the link to the bikes I see doing deliveries. I don't use this specific model. I own bikes from the same company and they're great.
 
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We worked with a vegan instagram influencer to promote the kitchen and the result was beyond my understanding. Our followers were increased from 300 to 800 in a few days and we got so many questions about the items …
We used the booster option offered by instagram. We also added an inspiring quote on our boxes to show how much we need our customers support.
However, I really got shocked by the power of social media influencers which is kinda scary to be honest.
That's amazing to hear! Was it a local (to phoenix) influencer ?

That's really great to hear you do so well -- I take it you will expand that reach out to others and replicate more of that. Used correctly social media can def have a lot of power in bringing awareness and sales to businesses (especially start ups).
 
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You should be able to scale this method quite well by turning your customers into influencers.

Make the food look super photogenic, and the packaging.

Paint a wall in a super photogenic way so people take pictures and share them there.

Offer a discount or reward to customers for sharing pictures to their Instagram or stories or TikTok.

Reshare that content to your socials to make your business seem super active and popular.
Thanks! Actually there are several customers that place a big order weekly. I just found them on instagram and they have more followers than the kitchen page! I will send them message to see if they are open to work with us on creating some posts. Thanks for your tips!
 

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That's amazing to hear! Was it a local (to phoenix) influencer ?

That's really great to hear you do so well -- I take it you will expand that reach out to others and replicate more of that. Used correctly social media can def have a lot of power in bringing awareness and sales to businesses (especially start ups).
Yes! He is the organizer of vegan events. I explained our struggle and he accepted to promote the kitchen for a very fair price ($400) compared to other quotes from other influencers. He also told us everyone love your food but they think you need to keep the kitchen open at least till 8 pm instead of 6 pm. Our chef agreed to give it a shot next weekend to test it.
 
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This is the link to the bikes I see doing deliveries. I don't use this specific model. I own bikes from the same company and they're great.
Thanks! I bought an ebike six years ago from Amazon and it took me 10 hours to assemble it. I was so excited but I was too short for the bike (or bike was too tall for me). You should have seen my face. I really love to buy one when they come in different sizes.

Based on your experience, do you think an average young person can use the bike for short deliveries without putting his health at risk in high temperature in Phoenix?

I’m asking because if our sale gets better by stretching our hours, we probably will need to hire an assistant to work with the chef (he is professional chef and we can’t afford to pay him staying overtime). I was wondering if we have two people in the kitchen, the assistant can take care of deliveries in the neighborhood or even big orders because that apps are setting the commission based on the order cost instead of the distance or traffic.
Besides, l have electric car and can’t believe how much I used to pay on gas (huge savings here). Even, we might be able to use this delivery method in our marketing (e.g. sustainable delivery methods)?
 

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Thanks! I bought an ebike six years ago from Amazon and it took me 10 hours to assemble it. I was so excited but I was too short for the bike (or bike was too tall for me). You should have seen my face. I really love to buy one when they come in different sizes.

Based on your experience, do you think an average young person can use the bike for short deliveries without putting his health at risk in high temperature in Phoenix?

I’m asking because if our sale gets better by stretching our hours, we probably will need to hire an assistant to work with the chef (he is professional chef and we can’t afford to pay him staying overtime). I was wondering if we have two people in the kitchen, the assistant can take care of deliveries in the neighborhood or even big orders because that apps are setting the commission based on the order cost instead of the distance or traffic.
Besides, l have electric car and can’t believe how much I used to pay on gas (huge savings here). Even, we might be able to use this delivery method in our marketing (e.g. sustainable delivery methods)?
do you think an average young person can use the bike for short deliveries without putting his health at risk in high temperature in Phoenix?
I don't know Phoenix well. You would have to look around your neighborhood and see if there are bike lanes or multi-use paths to ride. If not, are the streets safe to ride on? I have people ride in 95+ degree weather here and the bikes do well. I make sure the people have sunscreen and plenty of water. It's never been a problem. I know it gets hotter in Phoenix. Short rides I think would ok.

Sustainable delivery methods seem like a good match for your brand. I think this would matter to your customers.
 

MJ DeMarco

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We worked with a vegan instagram influencer to promote the kitchen and the result was beyond my understanding. Our followers were increased from 300 to 800 in a few days and we got so many questions about the items …
We used the booster option offered by instagram. We also added an inspiring quote on our boxes to show how much we need our customers support.
However, I really got shocked by the power of social media influencers which is kinda scary to be honest.

Wow, incredibly promising. I noticed that the vegan space on social media is very helpful if you're offering the marketplace value. People will go out of their way to help, or minimally, try your products. Sounds like you experienced that.
 
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Soniayekkalar

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Wow, incredibly promising. I noticed that the vegan space on social media is very helpful if you're offering the marketplace value. People will go out of their way to help, or minimally, try your products. Sounds like you experienced that.
Wow, incredibly promising. I noticed that the vegan space on social media is very helpful if you're offering the marketplace value. People will go out of their way to help, or minimally, try your products. Sounds like you experienced that.

yes, I guess we’re on the right path and I started to be hopeful that we won’t have to convert the kitchen into vegetation one to survive the first year. Thanks everyone for your helpful feedback. I will keep you posted!
 

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Hi everyone! My name is Sonia and I just started a vegan takeout/delivery kitchen. English is my third language so please feel free to ask me questions if my sentences don’t make sense Hopefully, I can rephrase them.

After almost 5 months, I barely make enough money to cover our Chef paycheck (I’m paying from my pocket for rent, ingredients, advertising, …). I had savings for start up and I was ready for losing money for at least one year. However, I’m getting close to losing all my saving in the middle of the process. The quality of our food is really good (organic ingredients, no cross contamination..,) and our reviews are fantastic. The biggest problem I see is that my kitchen only serves customers with plant based life style. I’m vegan too and don’t want to add animal products to my menu. So I have been looking for a way to expand my options by adding gluten free items which helped a little but not significantly. I was thinking to sell our vegan breakfast bowl with vegan sausages gravy and sausage pizza which are our most popular items in whole foods market. However, I have a hard time to start working on this and understanding the steps (specially for packaging and nutrition label…). I would appreciate it if you can help me with understanding the process. I also love to hear your feedback and suggestions about my business. Is there anything I need to focus on before looking for an opportunity to work with Whole Foods? Thanks for your time. Your advice means a world to me.
Have you considered a frozen food meal delivery service instead of the restaurant?

Running any startup is tough. Running a restaurant startup is 100x harder. When we were kicking around different business options, I specifically ruled out restaurants after working at many over several years. There's just so many moving parts to manage that are out of your control. Suppliers, staffing, kitchen equipment, customer service.

Preparing frozen meals with an online order website delivered to local homes is entirely different. There's no dinner rush. You can dedicate 1-3 days each week solely to preparing food and 1-2 days for deliveries. You can use seasonal foods that are much cheaper from week to week. You can offer a meal subscription service for monthly recurring revenue.

Frozen meals can be inventoried to balance out demand. There's almost no waste. Online ordering makes the payment system trivial. Depending on local laws, you can work out of a home kitchen or rent a commercial shared kitchen only when needed for meal prep. The freezers can be warehoused anywhere. You can promote meals on the website and with email to estimate demand before cooking a single one. Or maybe cook a single one for good photos.

The frozen meal business model is so much easier than opening a physical restaurant or even a ghost kitchen. I realize you lose the camaraderie and joie vivre of serving customers in a working restaurant, but it's a great way to become profitable quickly without losing your mind. A restaurant can easily be opened down the road. Aside from the obvious marketing angles of vegan/vegetarian/healthy/eco-friendly/Millenial, don't forget the less obvious one of meals specifically designed for people with particular food allergies.

This isn't a hypothetical idea, BTW. I researched this with several local companies who took exactly this route as we've been moving around the country over the past fifteen months. Farmers markets, restaurant space, popup kitchens, Uber Eats, Whole Foods distribution have built-in problems that are simply not worth solving. The only difference for me was considering organic dog food frozen meals, but everything else is exactly the same.
 
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