This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Today, we're gonna hear from a caller from New York City. Mike is on the line. He's got a passion for cooking. Wants to turn that into a profitable side hustle. He has therefore set his sights on a home-based meal delivery service.
But of course, as with any new venture, whether it's small business, bigger entrepreneurial project or side hustle, he wants to make sure he's covering all his bases. Hey, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. So glad you're tuning in today. Let's see what we can share with Mike to help him get his meal delivery service off the ground and on the road to success.
You know, delivering those meals for profit, as well as many five-star reviews. A home-based meal delivery service for New York. That's our question coming right up. [Music]
Hey, my name is Mike. I'm calling from New York.
I recently stumbled upon your podcast while searching for advice on starting a side hustle. Now, I have an idea for a home-based meal delivery service and I'm really excited about it, but I want to make sure I'm not making any critical mistakes. Naturally, I want to do everything I can to set myself up to success. So can you share some common pitfalls to avoid in this situation? I really want to make sure I'm not missing anything important.
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Hey, Mike, thanks for calling in. Starting a home-based meal delivery business could be a way to turn your passion for cooking into this profitable side hustle. I also think there are some unique things to the New York City market that might allow this to work there where other markets could fail. For example, I knew someone who did something similar to this in Portland a few years ago. And, you know, it was a pretty cool business.
They had some great food. They got some traction, but ultimately the market wasn't big enough, you know, to prove sustainable. So you really need the right kind of environment and New York City is potentially, at least, a good market for it. Now, that said, there are indeed some common pitfalls that you want to watch out for. So here are three to keep in mind.
And actually, let's just focus mostly on the first two, okay? So number one, food safety regulations, okay? You're gonna need to follow specific food regulations to ensure, you know, that your food is prepared, stored, delivered in a safe and hygienic manner. I have no idea what that looks like in New York, but, you know, some research is definitely gonna be required, okay? Anything to do with food, like there's a whole process for it.
Thankfully, there are a lot of online resources that tell you what you need to know. It's just, you know, a good bit of work and research. Next, well, and critically, like your first, let's say 50 customers, you know, I often talk about your first customer, or like we have this whole series of your first $1,000, but for a project like this, you really need your first 50 to 100 customers, you know, just because of how it works in terms of scale and ingredient purchase and efficiency. You know, you're not gonna survive with just a few customers. You're gonna need a pretty strong base.
So, you know, consider your target audience. You know, what is it that's going to set this meal delivery service apart? What kind of message will resonate with them? You know, definitely a lot of work to be done in this department as well, because you have to get to that base as soon as possible, and then you can see, you know, how much you want to grow, but if you don't have, you know, at least that 50 to 100 to start with, you know, that are ordering, you know, consistently on some kind of subscription, then it will be difficult to continue. And the last thing I was gonna mention, but maybe not as important as the first two, is just consistency.
Like once you actually start delivering meals, you want to make sure that customers are happy with the food, the service, you know, everything's on time, most of the time at least. And, you know, that's easier said than done, right? Especially as things grow. But if you can achieve consistency, then you're definitely gonna be on your way to building a successful meal delivery service. All right, good luck, Mike.
I'm cheering you on. Listeners, if you've got a question or an idea, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. That's all for today. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
