The set up you need to help you run a home based meal delivery service in your local community.

Bite Size Talks 2019	

<div>The set up you need to help you run a home based meal delivery service in your local community.</div>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ASI Pacific Union

Nick	 Stroot

How To Start A Home Based Meal Delivery Service

So what I want to get into now, I've shared my testimony and how it led to where I'm at now.

This is a lot more detail, actually, of how I got the business up and running, and then what the day-to-day operations, how it works, how it kind of looks like.

Another beautiful shot of the flat state of Kansas there for you.

So this is the space that it started out.

You might be able to see it all right, but it was, the space is like 19 feet by 13 feet, so it ends up around 200 square feet or so.

So, you know, physically like looking at it, I was like, well, there's enough room in here to move and put the stuff, you know, put my appliances and cabinets and all those things in and work around, you know, a big table in the middle to prep on.

And I was like, well, that's enough room to move around and stuff.

And so and also enough counter space and just space in general.

And so basically in that kind of a size area, I can cater for, because I do meal delivery, but I'm also available for caterings.

And the biggest I've done is a wedding for like 125 people.

And I was able to do that out of the kitchen in my home.

To do this kind of work, provide food for the public in the state of Kansas, you have to have a kitchen that is completely separate from the 1 where you do your personal home food prep in.

So this 1 has, well we'll go into those details here in a minute.

So I got the space, you know, this is good, this is possible, step 1.

Step 2, you know, what's the regulations?

What do I need to be able to have in this space to meet the Kansas regulations of food safety?

So I got online and found out what is required.

And actually, the state of Kansas, it's so amazing.

And the lady said, yeah, we even do free consultation.

So if you're interested in doing this, invite us out.

And we can go through it together and tell us how you're going to do it.

And we can let you know of things that you might not be thinking of, you know, as far as regulations and requirements that we need for, you know, our requirements.

And so I was like, oh well that's that's great, yeah, come on out.

So we had a little consultation and that's the thing, I was so, working in construction I was nervous of inspectors and stuff like that because they're kind of like always out to get you.

They wanted everybody to be safe, but they want to help you.

You know, they're not trying to shut you down or anything unless you're you know not following the rules.

So if you got the space and you can physically get started with it, the next step from the state then you got to look local which was the city of Bel Air which is the town that I live in, find out what their regulations were.

So there's like, you know, the typical example is like home daycare, and They said like accountants will do work from their home.

So when I told them what I was gonna do, you know, it was a little different.

And there was a whole, there was a whole like 2 month process where I had to, I had to do, let the, let the, the council know.

And then they had to like end up voting on it based on, at an official thing, official meeting.

And before that, I had to prepare a letter for all the neighbors within 500 feet of my house, their properties that touched mine, and deliver them letters and let them know what I intend to do and make sure that, you know, hey, if you've got something wrong with this problem, you need to come to the meeting and talk about it type of thing.

So all the neighbors knew what I was doing too.

And I, 1 neighbor actually suggested and I went a step further and I went door to door with my family and handed out these letters that I typed up and told them what I was doing and introduced myself and that type of thing.

So making connections there as I go and get to meet everybody so that was really nice.

And I was And I had to go about it that way because the neighborhood that I live in, we don't have a homeowners association.

So that was kind of 1 hurdle that we were able to be around anyway.

I don't know how that would work in a HOA, but yeah, I don't know.

The day that I got, so I went to that council meeting and presented to the city council and they took their vote and there was some kind of details with that that was kind of funny that worked out, but they voted and everybody approved it, and so it was on, and I had the biggest smile on my face.

They were like, oh, well look at the smile on that guy's face But I was just so excited and so happy So so we got all clear and it was time to start demolition Again this was the space There's a couple more views of it.

So I got some nice sunlight that comes in and it's naturally lit too.

There was a, the family that lived there before had, there was 2 toilets.

There was 1 on the right side there and then this 1 used to be a toilet they were doing computer classes in the basement of this home years ago I think it was in like the 80s I want to say so they had a boys and a girls bathroom and a big double vanity So I ended up moving this wall that you can see where the tile stops there, jackhammered up the floor and my dad is a plumber so we put in a p-trap in the drain in the floor so I could have a floor drain for my 3 compartment sink and then hacked off 1 part of the vanity and so I still had 1 sink there and then the other sink we ran the drain over into the kitchen side so I had a employee hand washing sink.

So again, it was another 1 of those things that just kind of, it was there.

It was a lot easier than it could have been.

That's the, yeah, you can see where the cord is laying.

That wall used to be there, but again, I moved it back and that made the employee restroom.

And then there was a shower back in there and the inspector that was there, she was like, well, you need a mop sink.

When you mop the floor, you've got to have a place to dump the water.

And she took a look at the shower, and she's like, oh, well, yeah, you can use that.

Another thing that I didn't think about or didn't know, and it just was there and ready.

So I, like I said, there was some sticky tile on the floor so I peeled all that up and threw it all away and got this nice LVT vinyl flooring.

You can shatter a big heavy pitcher of glass on that floor and it doesn't, ask me how I know, and it will not damage that floor.

It's very, it's waterproof, very durable, exactly what you need for a kitchen and it looks, I think it looks really nice.

Through the remodeling company that I worked with for a while, I had connections with a lot of suppliers that would supply the flooring and those cabinets there.

They were able to advise me, you want this kind.

These are laminate covered so that they wipe down real easy and they're really durable because you're gonna be putting heavy pots and you know I'm using them a lot So I did that.

The range hood up there, I was able to drill a hole in the side of the house and run a vent out there.

I don't remember what size the fan is in that hood, but now I'm venting my, the range, anything that's cooked on the range to the outside.

When you're boiling water and stuff a lot of steam builds up and if you don't have a, if you're cooking that much volume you have to have it vented out.

There's just way too much humidity and and then the neighbor likes it too.

He, he knows what I was doing and so he was like, I was talking to him 1 day, and he's like, yeah, I smell the food some days.

So then we needed a 3 compartment sink also was the other thing, wash, rinse, and sanitize.

So when I was working for the Garden Grill, Chef Miguel was using an accountant by the name, well it doesn't matter, But he was using this accountant and I knew about this and I talked to him.

I got in touch with this guy and he was like, yeah, I'll do it for you, you know, to do, you know, taxes and then he like does the month-to-month accounting type stuff, keeping track of my credit cards or, you know, entering that all in and the register and everything.

But he also, at that same time when I met him, he was just closing down a restaurant that he had.

And I told him, I was like, yeah, I'm still looking for a couple things.

Sure enough, it was exactly what I needed.

It was 1 of the major costs that was involved in this and by meeting him and doing that, I saved a ton of money on that.

Another thing that God worked out, like I could say it over and over again.

Yeah, so it required a demo and the city knew what I was doing so I had to get a permit and I got a building permit and so everything's up to code with the city.

So right there at that point I had this thing physically built.

We started demo like June-ish and by November everything was set and ready to go.

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How To Start A Home Based Meal Delivery Service

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