Customer lifetime value calculator for meal prep businesses
Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates what one customer spends with your business over time, across all their repeat orders.
Your customer averages
The whole order after discounts and refunds, excluding tax.
Weekly ordering averages 4.33 orders a month. Lower it for skipped weeks.
Average months a customer stays with you, including any pauses.
Include your order costs (optional)
Include ingredients, packaging, kitchen labour, delivery and payment fees. Use the same tax basis as order value.
How to calculate customer lifetime value
Average order value × orders per month × months they stay
$100 × 4 × 6 = $2,400Illustrative meal prep example: four $100 orders a month for six months bring in $2,400 per customer.
Count orders, not individual meals
A ten-meal box sold for $100 is one $100 order. Include one-off buyers as well as regulars in your averages.
Revenue is only part of the picture
If each order costs $70 to fulfil, those 24 orders leave $720 for marketing, overheads and profit.
About the standard CLV formulaUsing CLV in your meal prep business
How do I account for pauses and skipped weeks?
Count paid orders over the whole customer relationship, including pause months. A customer ordering 18 times across six months averages three orders a month. Use that same six-month span for their lifespan, and the same customer group for all your averages.
What if I don’t know how long customers stay?
Start with an estimate and try a shorter and longer lifespan. Check older customer groups with enough time to stop ordering; someone still ordering after three months may stay much longer.
Can I use lifetime revenue as my advertising budget?
Order costs, overheads and profit still need to be covered. Include your order costs first, then account for those other needs. Revenue over six months also isn’t cash available today.