Meal delivery services, which ship all of the ingredients needed to make full meals to customers, are getting more and more popular. It seems like a new one pops up every few months, so consumers are going for it. If you own a healthy organic restaurant, you may be wondering how you can get in on the action.

Fortunately, it may be possible for you to do your take on meal services. Better yet, a restaurant like yours might be able to get food to local customers in a more sustainable manner. Here’s how a restaurant could set its meal services offering apart.

Focus on Local

Make it clear that someone is supporting local when they opt for your meal kit over one from a big company. Not only are you in their neighborhood, but you’re sourcing your food locally. Emphasize that, and contrast it with a meal kit service where you don’t know exactly where the food comes from. Plus, if it has to be shipped from far away, that’s creating emissions. An eco-conscious diner might be more interested in your local option.

Prep for Different Skill Levels

During the pandemic, several restaurants started offering meal kits to customers for the first time. One thing that some successful eateries did was to tailor their meal kits for different levels of cooking skill. Some diners do want to cook a meal with just the ingredients at hand, but an option that just basically allows them to warm up a meal that you’ve already completely made for them is fine too. You can likely find takers for both options.

Think About the Packaging

Packaging can be a huge source of waste for meal kits and takeout food alike. If you’re going to make your own meal kit, make sure that you avoid any excess packaging and opt for more eco-friendly options, like something that’s easily recyclable or biodegradable. There are recyclable options for the box you ship in, the protective packaging, and even the ice packs that keep ingredients cold, so don’t be afraid to branch out from the traditional shipping supplies.

Highlight Vegan and Vegetarian Options

Some studies have shown that a reduction in meat consumption could help benefit the environment. So if you’re going to try to build a more sustainable meal kit service, why not try to get your customers to try more plant-based meals that are better for the planet?

You don’t have to make your restaurant completely vegan or vegetarian, but focusing on those types of offerings for your deliveries can help you feed hungry customers while creating a smaller carbon footprint than most meal kit delivery services would when they deliver similarly-sized meals that contain meat.

Keep Up With Changing Customer Demands

If you own your restaurant, keep an eye on the Organic Restaurants blog. We’re always keeping an eye on consumer preferences and we’ll keep you updated on how you can best adjust your offerings to keep reeling in new diners.