Grow your meal prep business with Castiron

Building a website for your meal prep business doesn't have to be difficult. Create an online order form, accept payments, keep track of customer details, run your email marketing, and more with Castiron's food business management tools.

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Meal Prep Software

There are many kinds of meal prep business software available on the market today. The kind that works best for your company will depend on what you want to do with your meal prep app and meal prep software. At Castiron, we are building ecommerce software for food artisans of all kinds. We know that meal prep ecommerce is always changing, so you need the best meal prep software to support your business.

There are several tools you can use to help with meal prep. Software like GoPrep and our app at Castiron makes it easy to start, build and grow your business. Why work with meal prep software?

You have to remember that your consumer base is varied. You should have software that helps you identify allergen and dietary issues. Let your customers know about nuts, dairy, eggs, and other allergens. You should also be able to identify if your food falls into vegetarian, vegan or keto programs, so that your customers make well-informed decisions when they buy your products.

With the right meal prep software, you will be able to work on fulfilling orders as well. You might want to do pick-up order, shipping or delivery. Whatever you want to do, you will need an app that is designed for it. Since food artisans need flexible fulfillment options, you may want to look into apps that provide all three to you.

Of course, you may want to offer customized orders, and with a good meal prep app, you can.  Castiron offers easy back-and-forth custom order communication. You can update invoices and estimates easily, and deposits will be made without any extra effort for you.

When you use the right apps, you can reduce your stress while making sure your business is scalable. From inventory management to getting paid on time, a good meal prep app will make all the difference as you run your business.

Remember, there are paid services available, or you can opt to try some of the free applications available now. Combining your app with a free website and other services is a good way to get your business off the ground and to manage your orders from one easy place.

Meal Prep Software Free

Running a business isn’t cheap, so having the right meal prep tech can make a difference. What’s the best meal planning app free? Many applications come with demo services, so you can get used to the platform before you decide to buy into the service. For example, SPRWT.io is a meal prep builder that you can demo before you buy.

Sometimes, using meal prep software free for consumers might help. For example, Mealime allows you to put in your diet, dislikes, food restrictions and allergies before it will suggest meal plans for you. If you’re looking to add a new meal to your menu and want to be sure it’s safe for your customers, this could help you find some new ideas and recipes. This app comes with cooking mode, which makes it possible to try a new recipe without having the screen on your phone or tablet lock up.

If you want to get a meal prep website free, you can try eatthismuch.com, which lets you put in a certain number of calories and can come up with a meal based on your specific diet. Choose from vegan, Mediterranean, ketogenic, vegan, paleo and vegetarian.

For businesses, you can try GoPrep, which allows you to try the site-building app online for free. You can also book a demo to let you build a menu and start selling your food or dishes within only one hour. This site is focused on quick set-up, which helps you get your business up and running sooner.

Our app on Castiron is free to sign up for as well. You can launch your business in just minutes by selecting a shop name, inputting your email and creating a password. It’s totally free to open your store online, which makes it affordable for you to start your business. How does a business make money if the service is offered for free? We make money only when you sell something. A convenience fee is added to each transaction, which works out to 2.9% + $0.30 in Stripe payment processing fees. There is a 10% convenience fee added to the customer’s bill as well. This saves you money and makes sure you get the most functionality for the lowest price.

Meal Prep Business Plan Template

What is a meal prep business? It’s a business in which you prepare meals for others for a few days or weeks in advance. Your meal prep business profit could be high if you have enough consumers buying your products in bulk. However, you do need to know how to promote meal prep business and should follow a meal prep business plan template to get the business set up correctly.

Starting an at-home meal prep business requires a plan. Starting a meal prep business from home requires that you have a niche and that you are ready to write a meal prep business plan pdf. To start a meal prep business from home, you can find a meal prep business for sale or set up a business plan that goes over your business name, the kind of business entity you want and your business goals.  

Is a meal prep business profitable? It will depend on the work you put into the business and what you sell. There can be high margins, but they may be smaller depending on your licensing fees and other costs. Your meal prep business website needs to be easy to use and should have a meal prep business menu that users understand easily. You might need a meal prep business license depending on your state, so factor that into your costs.

Need to know how to start a meal prep business in California? You will need to choose your niche, write a business plan, get the correct permit (either A or B) depending on where you want to sell your products, determine where to sell your meals, find your supplies, get small-business funding if needed and market your product.

Remember, a meal prep business can be very profitable, because the margins are better than those of restaurants or other in-house businesses. You may not have as many monthly sales as a restaurant or bakery, but the sales you do make may be higher. As a result, you’ll find that you can live comfortably on your earnings without selling as much as some other businesses. This is something to keep in mind as you decide on which kinds of meals you want to create for your business.

Meal Prep Website

The best meal prep websites are easy to use. Customers appreciate a clear menu with photos. They may want to customize their orders, too, so always make sure you have the correct options available.

At Castiron, we offer a meal prep website template for free. To create one, go to the site and sign up. Then, follow three easy steps to create your website. We are just one of several meal prep website platforms. Others might include Shopify, Wix or others.  

The meal prep website Reddit users have suggested include BudgetBytes.com, OnceUponaChef.com, and others. The best meal prep websites Reddit hasn’t discussed may include Castiron, MuscleMealsDirect and LeanMeals. You may also find meal prep website TikTok
users prefer, or you might want to Google search for business meal prep website options that would allow you to build your own menu.

Of course, it is possible to hire someone to create a specialized website for you, but with all the meal prep website and platforms that already exist, it’s often simpler to go with platforms, layouts and services that have already been proven.

The nice thing about setting up a website is that you will be able to accept debit and credit cards. You may also be able to accept PayPal and other payment services, so your customers can pay in whatever way makes the most sense to them.

Whether you decide to work through Squarespace and its website builder, Wix and a menu creator, Castiron and our free website service, or GoPrep, you’ll find that it’s easy to set up a quick website that can be used to take orders easily. Some of these programs may tie into Facebook or other tools, so you can add on any additional tools you’d like.

You don’t have to spend a lot to get the meal prep software that will work best for your business. Once you set up your website and note any fees that there are, you can include those fees in your business plan and be ready to take orders. You can often set up your site in less than an hour, and you can be ready to take orders the same day so long as you have the right permits or licensing in your area.

We cover what to look for in a meal prep ecommerce software for your food business, where to find easy-to-use meal prep software, and more.

Heather Brookshire

The Cake Whisperer

5/5

My business would not be the same without my Castiron website! It is an easy setup with lots of customization and tons of support! I am so glad I set up my shop last year before the holidays — it really helped increase my sales!

Amanda McMonigle

The Whimsical Cookie

5/5

Castiron provides me a professional site to my customers increasing my credibility and value while giving me the tools to effectively market and manage my business in an easy, user-friendly manner.

Kim Sims

Wesley's Treats Hallie's Sweets

5/5

Castiron has made my cottage bakery shine, and my business easy to manage. As a platform they care about my business as much as I do.

Katie Maschoff

Mill City Cooking Company

5/5

Before Castiron, I was taking orders really manually, through emails or texts or Facebook. Now I can send customers straight to my website, and I don’t have to worry about missing any details.

Daniella Smith

Oso Good Clean Eats

5/5

I couldn't run my business without the Castiron platform. It made it so easy to get my shop up and running — it truly removed a massive barrier to me getting started!

Ali Serpe

Kultured Kombucha

5/5

I realized that the barrier of having to DM or text me to order was holding a lot of potential customers back.

Now that I have a professional website and a simple ecommerce checkout, I'm seeing a huge increase in new customers and they appreciate how easy Castiron makes ordering.

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Easy to start, created specifically for local, handmade food: Castiron’s website builder was created to help you grow. Create a website in minutes with our templates, sell where and how your customers want to buy, and look professional without being technical. Keep customers coming back with email marketing tools, customer records, and more.

The Best Fit for Your Food Business

Food entrepreneurs, this is your moment. Your community is more and more conscious about what they buy and where it is from. They want food made with love. With ingredients they can pronounce. And they want to support their community while doing it.

Castiron is the best fit for your food business because we're not a one-size-fits-all tool. Selling local food is different from pre-packaged warehouse products. Whether you sell cooking classes, need local pick up, utilize pre-sales to plan inventory, or need a fully custom order form — we got you.

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