Four months ago, lawyer Elle Curran and her partner Josh Abulafia came up with the idea for ChefPrep – an online marketplace where customers can buy ready-made meals from premium restaurants. They’re now gearing up to launch the service in NSW.
After working long hours in her job as an entertainment lawyer in Sydney, Elle didn’t have much time to think about or prepare her food each day. Pre-preparing meals at the weekends ate up hours of her downtime and was unsustainable in the long term.
Unimpressed with the quality, range and price of many food delivery services as well as ready-made meals in Sydney, Elle realised there was a gap in the marketplace for busy professionals who wanted the convenience of a wide selection of tasty, premium yet affordable meals delivered to their homes.
After noticing that several restaurants had started selling ready-made meals from their premises during the COVID-19 lockdown last year, she suggested to her partner, Josh, that they set up an online marketplace, and ChefPrep was born.
From side hustle to startup: Getting proof of concept first
Elle continued to work at the law practice, while Josh went full-time in ChefPrep to gauge interest from both restaurants and customers.
“We took a lean startup approach to get from idea to side hustle and then to launch,” Elle tells Kochie’s Business Builders. “As this is a new concept, we knew we needed to validate both sides of the marketplace: our suppliers and our buyers.”
The couple initially focused on the supply side and started reaching out to restaurants that they’d identified as potential partners to determine their interest in the service.
“We had a very strong response from restaurant partners who saw ChefPrep as a way to unlock an additional revenue stream by preparing the meals in their kitchens during quiet times with limited staff. They also realised they could limit food wastage.”
Once they’d validated the supply side, Elle and Josh needed to ensure there was a market for the service.
To do this, they set up a landing page where customers could register to join the waitlist for ChefPrep. They then started advertising on Facebook and Instagram, which resulted in more than 1500 people from NSW signing up to the waitlist and 250 people registering to begin a paid trial in mid-May.
“The feedback from our potential customers has been great and we’ve already managed to build a strong, engaged community before launch,” says Elle.
Building the foundations with research and partners
While Elle continued practising law during the daytime, she spent evenings and weekends working on marketing and communications, operations – including legal, finance and governance – and customer service for ChefPrep.
Josh, a former tech and marketing executive, spent the majority of his time meeting restaurant partners in person to encourage them to get on board. “We’ve found these catchups with partners essential in building a strong foundation,” says Elle.
Over the past four months, the couple has focused on getting the ChefPrep marketplace platform ready for launch, as well as working with packaging and logistics providers.
Now that they’re confident they have the potential for success, Elle will be leaving her job in a few weeks to join Josh in working on ChefPrep full time.
The pair have been supported in this side hustle-to-startup phase by Westpac. A longtime customer, Josh credits the bank and its products and services with helping him to save and manage the money he needed to establish ChefPrep.
“I used my Westpac credit card to make purchases for the business prior to us closing financing,” he says. “I also used my savings account to manage my own personal finances to ensure I was in a good financial position to be able to set up the business.”
For anyone in a similar position to Elle and Josh, Westpac’s guide to setup costs when starting a business gives a clear view of how startups can manage expenses right from the get-go. Essential, really, if you’re learning the ropes as a first-time business owner, moving from side hustle dreams to full-time (fingers crossed) success.
Ready for launch
ChefPrep will launch shortly with five premium restaurant partners in Sydney to start with. Each restaurant has created a special ready-meal menu with high-quality ingredients for the platform, with dishes priced at around $15+GST.
Customers choose their meals for the week (they can choose from different restaurants in the same order), the meals are delivered and all the customer has to do is reheat them.
Elle and Josh decided to launch with a small number of restaurants initially to guarantee enough orders for their restaurant partners to ensure that ChefPrep – which makes a commission on each sale – is a viable revenue stream.
“We’ve worked very closely with our launch partners to build the service based on their feedback,” says Elle. “We’ve benefited from having a small number of highly engaged restaurant partners to guide the development and rollout of the service.”
Also by launching with a limited number of restaurants, the couple aim to minimise the risk of logistical issues at launch.
But while the number of restaurants is small, customers will have at least 40 different meals to choose from at launch.
After the initial rollout, ChefPrep plans to add new restaurant partners and extend delivery nationally.
“Straight out of the gate, we want to shake up the ready-made meal industry,” says Elle. “We want to be a platform that benefits customers and restaurants by facilitating the sale and delivery of high-quality, affordable ready-made meals across Australia.”
Ready to start or grow your own side hustle? Head to Westpac’s Business Help Hub for resources including how to come up with a business plan, how to find the best business loan for your business, how to manage your cashflow and tips from founders who’ve launched and grown their businesses successfully.
This content is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders in partnership with Westpac.
This information is general in nature and has been prepared without taking your objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. For this reason, you should consider the appropriateness of the information to your own circumstances and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice. Conditions, credit criteria and fees and charges apply, credit and financial products provided by WestpacBanking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL and Australians credit license 233714.
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