Every Sunday evening, Kristin Tebbetts sends out meal prep menus to her customers in Texas. They place their orders throughout the week, and she delivers fresh, homemade meals on schedule. Simple business model, right?
But behind the scenes, she was battling a common problem that plagues meal prep caterers everywhere: expensive ordering platforms that eat into already thin margins.
"I was reading about your system and I think it will fit my business, but have a few questions. I looked at Hotplate and like their system, but they are very expensive!"
— Kristin Tebbetts, Goodness Gracious Catering
The Weekly Meal Prep Problem
If you run a meal prep or weekly catering business, you know the drill. Every week it's the same cycle:
- Create your menu for the week
- Manually text or email it to your customer list
- Field orders via text, phone calls, DMs
- Manually track who ordered what
- Try to organize it all before prep day
And if you want to automate any of this? The platforms charge percentage-based fees that get more expensive as your business grows. You're literally penalized for success.
📸 REPLACE: Screenshot of Outbites automated menu scheduling interface showing weekly menu sends
Automated weekly menu distribution system
At 100 orders per week, the difference is
$4,160
saved per year by switching platforms
What Kristin Was Looking For
When Kristin reached out, she had three specific needs that most meal prep businesses share:
📧
Automated Menu Distribution
Stop manually texting menus every week. Set it and forget it.
📱
Clean Order Interface
Customers need an easy way to order. Dashboard needs to be simple to manage.
🖨️
Delivery Ticket Printing
Print organized tickets for each delivery route. No more handwritten labels.
The Automation She Was Missing
Here's what stuck out in her message: "Will your system send out the initial menus with the QR/info to order? Or do I still have to text that out myself?"
This is the thing most platforms don't tell you upfront: they might give you online ordering, but you're still doing all the heavy lifting to get customers to actually place orders.
❌ The Old Way
- • Manually text menu every Sunday
- • Copy/paste ordering link 47 times
- • Miss people who changed numbers
- • Hope they actually see it in the group chat chaos
✅ The Automated Way
- • Upload contacts once
- • Set schedule (e.g., "Every Sunday at 6 PM")
- • Platform sends SMS/email automatically
- • You literally do nothing
📸 REPLACE: Screenshot of Outbites orders dashboard showing incoming meal prep orders
Order management dashboard for meal prep business
The Features That Sealed the Deal
1. Thermal Printer Integration
Kristin specifically asked: "Does it provide something like a ticket to print for deliveries?"
Bluetooth thermal printers (Epson and Star Micronics) connect directly to the app. When an order comes in, one tap prints a clean delivery ticket with:
- Customer name and delivery address
- Order details and special requests
- Time stamp and order number
- Total and payment status
No more handwritten sticky notes. No more "wait, which order was for Sarah?"
📸 SUGGEST: Photo from Pexels of a thermal receipt printer or delivery tickets stacked neatly
Thermal printer setup for meal prep delivery tickets
2. Real-Time Order Notifications
Choose how you want to be notified when orders come in:
- Phone call - For those who want to know immediately
- Text message - Quick notification on your phone
- Push notification - If you're always in the app
Most meal prep businesses prefer texts since they're checking their phones constantly anyway during order windows.
3. Customer Contact Management
Import your contacts once (CSV upload or manual entry), then segment them however you want:
- Weekly customers vs. bi-weekly
- Different delivery zones
- Dietary preference groups (vegan, keto, etc.)
Send targeted menus to the right people at the right time.
📸 REPLACE: Screenshot of Outbites sales dashboard showing weekly revenue and order trends
Sales reporting dashboard for meal prep business
💡 The Pricing Psychology
Percentage-based fees sound small until you do the math. At $25/order, 5% doesn't feel like much. But scale to 500 orders/month and you're paying $625 in platform fees alone. With a $1 flat fee, you pay $500 total. That's $1,500/year back in your pocket.
And here's the kicker: as your average order size grows (think catering larger meal prep packages or family bundles), percentage-based fees grow with it. Flat fees don't.
The Free Trial That Makes Testing Easy
Here's what we offered Kristin (and what we offer all meal prep businesses):
First
50 orders
completely free. Zero platform fees.
Why? Because we want you to test the whole system risk-free:
- • Set up your automated menu distribution
- • See how orders flow into your dashboard
- • Test the thermal printer integration
- • Let customers experience the ordering flow
- • Track sales and manage deliveries
50 orders is roughly a month of business for most weekly meal prep services. That's enough time to know if the platform actually makes your life easier.
"That would be amazing, thank you! I would love to go ahead and sign up and then if I need a walk through, a meeting would be great!"
— Kristin's response (12 hours later)
Who Is This Perfect For?
This ordering system works best for food businesses that have predictable, recurring orders:
🥗
Weekly Meal Prep Services - Send menus Sunday, collect orders through Wednesday, prep Thursday, deliver Friday. Rinse and repeat.
🏢
Corporate Catering - Regular office lunch deliveries, scheduled breakfast catering, corporate event meal planning.
👨🍳
Personal Chef Services - Client-specific meal planning with recurring weekly or bi-weekly delivery schedules.
🍪
Bakery Pre-Orders - Weekly dessert boxes, custom cake orders, farmers market pre-orders.
The common thread? You have a regular customer base that orders from you repeatedly. You're not trying to attract random one-time customers - you're nurturing relationships with people who already trust you.
The Hidden Costs of "Cheap" Platforms
When comparing ordering platforms, most people only look at the per-order fee. But there are hidden costs that percentage-based platforms don't advertise:
💸 Scale Penalty
Let's say you start with $20 average orders. At 5%, that's $1 per order. Not bad! But as you grow and start offering premium packages ($40-50), suddenly you're paying $2-2.50 per order for the exact same service. Your costs doubled while the platform's effort stayed the same.
⏱️ Time Costs
If you're manually sending menus, tracking orders in a spreadsheet, and fielding texts, you're spending 5-10 hours per week on admin work. At even a modest $30/hour value for your time, that's $150-300/week in opportunity cost. What could you do with that time instead?
😤 Customer Experience Costs
When customers have to dig through group texts to find your menu, or piece together ordering info from multiple messages, some just won't bother. You don't know how many sales you're losing to friction in the ordering process.
📸 SUGGEST: Photo from Pexels of someone easily ordering food on their phone, or a clean modern restaurant kitchen
Clean, simple meal prep ordering interface on mobile
What Happens After Setup?
Once Kristin sends over her menus and customer list, here's the typical onboarding flow:
1.
Menu Creation (30 minutes)
We build out her digital menus with photos, descriptions, and pricing. She can edit these herself going forward.
2.
Contact Import (10 minutes)
Upload her customer list via CSV or add them manually. Set up any customer segments she wants.
3.
Schedule Setup (5 minutes)
Choose when to send menus (e.g., "Every Sunday at 6 PM CST"). Set order cutoff times if needed.
4.
Payment Integration (10 minutes)
Connect Stripe or Square account so customers can pay instantly when ordering.
5.
Test Order (5 minutes)
Place a test order, see how it looks on the dashboard, print a test ticket.
✓
Go Live
First automated menu goes out on her schedule. She does nothing.
Total setup time: about an hour. Then it runs on autopilot every week.
We offered Kristin a walkthrough meeting to go over everything live, but the system is intuitive enough that many businesses just jump in and figure it out as they go.
Average time saved per week
8 hours
by automating menu distribution and order management
The Questions Every Meal Prep Business Should Ask
Before you commit to any ordering platform, make sure you know the answers to these:
📊 Pricing Structure
- Is it a flat fee or percentage-based?
- What happens to the fee as my order sizes grow?
- Are there any hidden monthly costs or required add-ons?
- Can I pass fees to customers, or must I absorb them?
🤖 Automation Capabilities
- Can I schedule automated menu sends, or do I still text manually?
- Can I segment customers and send targeted menus?
- Does it handle recurring customer imports automatically?
📱 Customer Experience
- How easy is it for customers to order? (Hint: test it yourself)
- Can they save payment methods for faster checkout?
- Do they get order confirmations and updates?
🖨️ Operations
- Does it integrate with thermal printers?
- How do I organize orders by delivery route or time slot?
- Can I accept or reject orders if I'm at capacity?
📈 Reporting
- Can I see weekly/monthly sales trends?
- Can I track which customers order most frequently?
- Can I export data for taxes or accounting?
📸 REPLACE: Screenshot showing Outbites analytics dashboard with growth charts and customer insights
Meal prep business growth analytics and reporting
Why Flat Fees Make Sense for Recurring Orders
Think about how meal prep businesses actually work:
A customer might order once and pay $30. Or they might order every single week and pay $30 × 52 weeks = $1,560 per year.
With percentage-based fees:
- • That $1,560/year customer costs you $78 in platform fees (at 5%)
- • Even though the platform did the same amount of work as a one-time customer
- • Your most loyal customers become your most expensive to serve
With flat fees:
- • That same customer costs you $52 in platform fees (52 orders × $1)
- • You save $26 per loyal customer per year
- • The more they order, the better your margins get
Recurring revenue businesses shouldn't be paying recurring penalty fees.
🎯 Pro Tip: Calculate Your Break-Even
If your average order is under $20, percentage-based might be cheaper initially. But if you're selling $25+ meal prep packages (which most are), flat fees win immediately. And if you ever plan to offer larger packages or family bundles? Flat fees will save you thousands over time.
Ready to Stop Paying Percentage Fees?
Get the same setup Kristin got: Automated menu distribution, thermal printing, order dashboard, and 50 free orders to test everything.
No credit card required. Set up takes about an hour. First menu can go out this week.
Final Thoughts
Kristin's story isn't unique. We hear the same thing from meal prep businesses all the time: "The platforms designed for restaurants don't fit our model."
Restaurants need to attract walk-ins and one-time diners. They benefit from being on discovery platforms where people browse menus.
Meal prep businesses already have their customers. You're not trying to be discovered - you're trying to make ordering easier for the people who already trust you.
You need:
- Automated weekly communication
- Simple ordering for recurring customers
- Organized delivery ticket printing
- Affordable fees that don't scale with your success
That's what Kristin was looking for. That's what she got. And if your meal prep or catering business operates the same way, this setup will probably change how you work too.
📸 SUGGEST: Photo from Pexels of a happy chef/cook preparing meals in a clean kitchen, or organized meal prep containers ready for delivery
Successful meal prep business owner preparing weekly meals
Questions about setup? Email us at support@outbites.com and mention this case study for priority onboarding.
