Homegrown Business: Save more planning your dinners with EasierChef

Deciding what to eat every day can be hard, and subscribing to recipe boxes like HelloFresh or having restaurant takeout often gets expensive really fast. This week, we spoke to EasierChef, a new grocery delivery and recipe box service that is three times more affordable than other recipe kits but offers the same convenience of easy meal planning and ingredient delivery.

Mohamed Dabbour, Founder of EasierChef
Mohamed Dabbour, Founder of EasierChef Inc.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Our business is called EasierChef and we help families & individuals plan their meals for the week with new easy-to-follow delicious recipes while also delivering all the ingredients required directly to their doorstep.

We give the option for families to remove ingredients they already have in their kitchen and also add any ingredients they are missing for to their recipe box for delivery.

What made you want to do this work?

After trying a few recipe boxes like HelloFresh or GoodFood, I felt that the services were too expensive. Although they helped me discover delicious new recipes and removed the stress of meal planning, I was still paying approximately $12 per serving which is too expensive for the majority of the population. I did some research and found that the same home-cooked meals can be shopped for from grocery stores for much cheaper at an average of $4 per serving.

This disconnect in price led to the creation of EasierChef. A service that connects delicious recipes with grocery store products at grocery store prices. Our goal is to help families eat healthy, meal plan easier, and save money by providing recipes with grocery delivery.

What problem does this solve?

We want to make it easier for families to meal plan with new healthy meals to try and also save time from grocery shopping – without paying a fortune.

By delivering ingredients sourced directly local grocery stores, and providing easy to follow high quality recipes, we provide the convenience and practical prices families and individuals are looking for.

Meal kits have a high drop-off rate after the initial discount/promo code. This is because the price per serving goes from $6 per serving with discount to $12 without. We want to make it more affordable while also benefiting local grocery stores with sales and a new customer acquisition channel.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

We strive to help families or individuals who are tired of cooking the same dinners, can’t find time to meal plan & grocery shop, or just really don’t know what to cook.

Families who are tired of cooking the same routine dinners and want to try new recipes with an affordable solution.

We also provide value to those looking to learn how to cook or new cooks needing recipes inspiration

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We currently monetize our service through brand product placements and grocery store referral fees. We also charge a delivery fee as well to cover the costs of our drivers’ time.

Where in Toronto can we find your profession?

We provide delivery to all of the GTA and we are an online business.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? 

Are the prices of your groceries competitive?

Yes, we source our products directly from Loblaws, Sobeys, Walmart, and other private stores. As mentioned earlier, we are also 3 times more affordable than other recipe meal kits and 5 times more affordable compared to restaurant or takeout food.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

Best part: innovating the recipe planning and grocery shopping experience for families in Toronto. We take pride in continually building tools to make dinner planning easy and affordable

Worst part: Adding a never-ending list of product options to our inventory for customers to shop from. Every customer has their own preferences in terms of brands, flavors, etc so it is our job to provide filters and options to make it easier to meet each customer’s unique preferences.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

Not really a joke, but before taking on this venture, I was not a good cook; I found it difficult to cook without burning my food! Now, EasierChef has made it easier for me to pick up a new skill which also saves me money and time with my grocery shopping and dinner planning.

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Toronto business that you love?

I love Ed’s Real Scoop. The owner learned how to create delicious ice Cream recipes after retiring. I respect his hustle and love his ice cream!

 

EasierChef provided an exclusive promo code to Toronto Guardian readers for FREE DELIVERY FOR ALL OF 2020! Use code TGFREE2020 at checkout!