Meal Delivery Service

Meals The business is a prepped meal service for seniors, where prepared, nutritionally-balanced meals are delivered to seniors who have trouble cooking for themselves, at a cost-effective price. The industry is at the intersection of food service and senior care. The core competencies that drive the business are in the efficient preparation of food. The difference is that we are targeting seniors who live on their own, a market not reached by institutional food service providers.

The industry has existed for a number of years, and as of 2013 was estimated to be worth $1 billion annually (McDill, 2013). This is a niche market, catering primarily to seniors with ample disposable income, but without either the ability or inclination to prepare their own food. Some simply have never prepared much of their own food, while others are more in a position where they can no longer regularly and reliably cook for themselves.

The industry is divided into a number of niches, of which the seniors market is one of the biggest. This market has high demand and loyalty among seniors with specific dietary requirements (dieting and diabetes are a couple of the bigger ones). The benefits to the consumers are that they no longer need to worry about the hassle of buying groceries and preparing meals -- they pay for the convenience of removing themselves and their energy from the food preparation process (Business Wire, 2015).

This is a niche market, albeit a fairly large and growing one, but it without much information. There have been a couple of reports published that describe the industry, its size and its growth prospects, but this business has grown quietly, and the key players are not written about much in the business press. There are a number of different types of players in the industry, including those that already produce these types of meals but then find a way to deliver them to their customers.

There are also relatively small companies that have opened specifically to target this niche. There are some challenges, such as marketing, but there are places like assisted-living facilities where word-of-mouth marketing can be conducted. Further, smaller companies must often provide food samples so that seniors can judge if the company's offering is superior to the other options available in that market (Jensen, 2017).

Markets with a high concentration of seniors will typically already see competitors, but there are some markets with lower concentrations, but enough to be economically viable, where greenfield opportunity still exists. There is also evidence that the use of online applications has spurred new growth in the food delivery business in general. Such apps make it easier for customers to order their food, and to switch between providers as they would between restaurants.

There is evidence that some companies in the business are starting to grow to a scale where the cost of producing the food is significantly lowered, and such companies are locking in competitive advantages of scale (Hirshcberg et al., 2016). Many seniors are now adopting smartphones and tablets to communicate with their families, or to access applications relevant to their health, and these seniors are using their devices to access food services, lowering the cost of marketing to these individuals.

Spaeder (2014) notes that senior food delivery is one of the best growth markets because the senior population is growing, many are adopting modern technology, and because there is strong need among seniors with medical conditions or who have limited access to cooking facilities. With the growth in the market comes opportunity both for entrepreneurs, for existing restaurants, and for large institutional.