DropChef give food for thought

DropChef – Client Story

How did your ‘start-up’ journey begin?

DropChef is the smartest way to cook to healthy dinner! We deliver all the ingredients you need, in exactly the right quantities, along with an easy to follow step-by-step recipe card. This means that after a busy day you can come home to everything you need to whip up a tasty dinner in less than 30 minutes!

How did your ‘start-up’ journey begin?

The DropChef journey really started while we (Roman Grogan & Ryan Scott) were in college in DCU. We were both competitive athletes and represented Ireland in Tennis and Sailing. As athletes we knew what good nutrition looked like. It’s really quite simple, use real ingredients and cook them simply. We followed that philosophy in our own day-to-day lives, cooking simple healthy meals to have before or after training. But when we left college and started into our corporate careers, we found that the simple, fresh and healthy dishes we were cooking before were now being replaced with frozen pizzas, ready meals and trips to the local takeaway. We thought that there must be way to make cooking simple and so we created DropChef!

What skill sets do you both bring to the company?

Passion & Skill - We both bring a lot of passion to the company! As well as the same work ethic, commitment & dedication that allowed us to be successful in sport. On top of this, having managed several sailing teams, Ryan brings pretty of operational experience to DropChef. Roman has first hand experience in the food industry, having previously started a food business aimed at helping people discover artisan food. Roman is also responsible for marketing at DropChef.
Use discount code: ‘LEO’ at checkout for €15 off your first order. ;) - https://dropchef.com/

Tell us about your unique brand name – where did it come from?

DropChef - When we started DropChef, there were a lot of unknowns. But two things we knew for certain were, the problem we wanted to solve and the kind of company we wanted to be. We thought that cooking was just too difficult! Between finding a recipe online, going to the supermarket, lugging everything home again and measuring a teaspoon of this and a tablespoon of that. The entire experience of getting a healthy dinner on the table was broken! We believed that by taking out all of these difficult and time consuming steps and ‘dropping’ you everything you needed, we could turn cooking into a magical experience. We also wanted to create a company that put the customer at the center of the universe. In a restaurant, the chef is the rockstar of the kitchen. And we wanted our customers to feel the same way! When you think about it, our customers are like everyday rockstars. Between driving kids to school or working a busy job they still find time to cook a fresh, healthy and delicious dinner for their family.

What makes your business different to what’s already on the market?

Convenience without Compromise - It kind of goes back to that idea of putting the customer at the center of the universe and helping them be an everyday rockstar. There are a lot of food businesses and most of them think that the best approach is to do everything for the customer. So they’ll do things like cook huge volumes of chicken curry in large commercial kitchens and then freeze it and put in plastic trays. It’s the kind of stuff that you can pick up in any supermarket or convenience store. But the reality is that those types of products compromise on things that are really important to people. Things like quality, freshness and the piece of mind that you’re feeding your family fresh and healthy food. For me, and for the people that cook with DropChef every week, we strike the best balance between making your life easier by being convenient while at the same time not compromising on the other important things like freshness, quality and health.

Tell us about your experience of the Local Enterprise Offices?

A Great Experience - Our experience with the Fingal LEO has been tremendous! Oisin, Keith, Gemma, Martin & Ken have all helped us massively. I’ve attended several events held by the Fingal LEO. The team there do a wonderful job of making you feel welcome and part of the business community. You inevitably pick up some words of wisdom from the guest speakers and from fellow attendees. Whenever I meet a person thinking of starting their own business I always direct them to the LEO because I know they’ll be guided in the right direction.

What Services/Funding have you received from the LEO?

Priming Grant & TOV - We have received a Priming Grant and a Trading Online Voucher (TOV). The Priming Grant allowed us to take on a key hire at an important time in the company. We’re using the TOV to re-design the website and add additional functionality to the website at the moment.

What are your own ‘Top Tips’ for new start-ups?

Focus in - My main bit of advice would be to identify what aspects of your business will have the greatest impact on your success. And then, most importantly, stay ruthlessly focused on those areas! It’s so so easy to get distracted with ancillary or trivial tasks and before you know it you’re busy but not productive!

Rome wasn’t built in a day – and neither are great companies. Make sure you take a long term view and understand that it’s going to take time for you to achieve your vision.

Do you have any plans to expand (at home or abroad)?

Nationwide launch – a few months ago we launched DropChef nationwide! The response from customers has been phenomenal and we’ve seen really strong growth in the business as a result.

What can your customers expect in the year ahead?

Vegetarian Box – we’ve been working hard on developing a range of tasty vegetarian recipes which we’ll be rolling out over the coming months.