How to Get Meal Prep Customers: 10 Practical Steps

01 Choose one customer and one offer

Pick a need: work lunches, dinners after a late shift or meals for busy families. Ask five potential customers what would help.
Sell a small paid starter box. Show the meals, total price, delivery day and order deadline. Let people try it without a long commitment.
Price the whole order: food, packaging, labour, delivery and any discount. Use the meal prep pricing calculator.

02 Start with people who know you

Personally invite contacts, local followers and past enquiries in your delivery area. Send the menu and order link; note which questions stop people buying.

03 Make the first order effortless

Answer three questions on the customer’s phone: what do I get, what will I pay, and when will it arrive?

Show the food clearly: real photos, portions, prices and relevant dietary details.
Explain delivery early: service area, day, cut-off and delivery charge.
Keep ordering in one flow: choose meals, customise, see the full total and pay. Compare meal prep software options around that journey.
Offer subscriptions at checkout. Explain the frequency, charge and next delivery using the basket they have already built.
Give customers control afterwards. Show where to change meals, skip weeks or pause and resume before the cut-off.

Find the friction: watch someone unfamiliar with your website order on their phone. Fix the places where they hesitate or need help.

MDS builds and connects the menu, checkout, payments and customer account, including simple code-based login and self-service subscriptions.

04 Earn the second order

Deliver the right meals on time, with storage and reheating instructions.
Make problems easy to report and quick to resolve.
Ask which meals they would order again. Fix a poor experience before asking for a referral.

05 Build a referral system that grows itself

Grow through customer referrals.

1. Give them a link or code: Customers share with friends; trainers share with clients. A QR code makes the same offer easy to open in person.
2. Track the order and reward automatically: Connect each eligible paid order to its referrer. Calculate the reward using your programme’s rules, with the status visible in their account.
3. Turn the reward into another order: Store credit gives the referrer a reason to buy again. Invite the new customer to share their own link, and the loop continues.

Start with five happy customers. Choose the reward and qualifying order, then give them a link and one sentence explaining the benefit.

MDS builds and connects this referral flow to your ordering, subscriptions and affiliate dashboards.

06 Partner with gyms and workplaces

Choose three partners inside your delivery area whose members or staff fit your meals.
Run a small tasting. Bring a starter offer, an order deadline and one link to share.
Make it easy for the partner. Customers choose and pay directly. The partner shares the offer without collecting orders.
Use a separate code or link for each partner. Agree any reward, then review first and repeat orders together.

Menu opens: show the meals, price, delivery area and order link.
Midweek: share a real portion, kitchen clip or customer feedback with permission.
Before the cut-off: remind people of the deadline and link to the menu.

Pin a “how ordering works” post. Share in relevant local groups that welcome business posts.

08 Show up in local searches

State your delivery area, days and menu clearly on your website. Use page titles that describe your meals and location.
Complete your Google Business Profile if eligible, including photos and your website link. Check Google’s rules for delivery-only food services.
Ask customers for honest reviews after they have tried the food.
Ask local partners to link to your menu from their member or staff resources.

09 Give each customer a reason to return

First-time buyer: ask what they enjoyed. Send the next menu to customers who want updates, with a reorder or subscription link.
Regular customer: keep favourites easy to reorder. Offer skips, pauses and flexible delivery weeks when their routine changes.
Lapsed customer: find out why they stopped. Match the invitation to that reason: a favourite dish, smaller pack or better schedule.

MDS can build saved meal choices and flexible calendars, including home-week selection for fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers, and help plan follow-up around your existing tools.

10 Grow what brings repeat buyers

Record where each buyer came from. Use referral links and partner codes; ask when the source is unknown.
Compare first and second orders. Give each group the same time to reorder before judging which channel works.
Count the full acquisition cost: ads, samples, discounts and referral rewards. Compare it with what the orders leave after meal and delivery costs.
Then test paid ads. Use one audience in your delivery area, one starter offer and a spending limit. Track paid orders before expanding.

Use your own figures in the customer lifetime value calculator to see what repeat ordering could be worth.

How to get meal prep customers