Unique Food Delivery Business Ideas For Startups

Are you planning to start a business to take control of your time and earn more money at your convenience? If you do, you should consider today’s business environment and take advantage of all the circumstances around you.

These days, more and more people are staying in the comfort of their homes, spending their time for entertainment, leisure, or work. If that’s the case, the main focus of your business is to make their lives much easier while staying in the comfort of their homes.

It’d be a good idea to take advantage of the current situation of most people, and you can do this with a food delivery business. Over the past couple of years, experts have seen tremendous growth in the food delivery business and are expected to grow further in the next five years.

Therefore, serving customers through food delivery is a business you shouldn’t miss. And if you do, ensure your drivers are insured with a flexible policy like Deliveroo insurance. This protects delivery drivers when transporting food from unwanted circumstances.

If you’re wondering what kind of food delivery business to start, below are some unique ideas you might want to consider:

1. Healthy Food Packs

Nowadays, people are becoming increasingly obsessed with their health. They’re well aware of how important eating a healthy and balanced diet is, especially in the past couple of years when doctors and nutritionists have focused on boosting the immune system.

You can think of delivering packed meals focusing on improving your customer’s health by providing essential nutrients. These include vegetable bowls, protein-packed meals, fruit salads, whole wheat meals, leafy green salads, and other healthy alternatives for heavy meals.

In addition, you may consider implementing subscription programs. With this, you can help athletes, gym enthusiasts, and others with particular calorie needs.

If you want to serve people with specific needs, make sure to do your research well or work with a nutritionist or a dietitian to review your meal programs. You can also share fitness tips with your customers to show how you value them.

2. Event Foods

Food delivery is always unfavorable to most caterers. They mostly suffer from logistic issues because they need to bring all their tools and equipment to different locations such as tables, chairs, food trays, designs, and other event essentials.

But now, caterers can provide services by delivering event food with the help of food delivery apps like Uber. This gives caterers a ghost kitchen and enables customers to focus on arranging and hosting the event.

Most customers prefer event food delivery because it’s less expensive and comes faster than traditional catering solutions. Also, it allows them to review the menu of every caterer to determine which one will most likely suit their tastebuds.

3. Frozen Food Packs

Frozen food offers more benefits than others. Most people prefer buying frozen food because they can readily eat it anytime, anywhere. Also, it’s super convenient. All you need to do is take the food out of your freezer, put it in the microwave, and eat it. That’s how great it is!

Here are some frozen food business ideas you might want to consider:

• Frozen seafood (e.g., shrimp, scallops, squid, and mussels)
• Frozen meat (e.g., beef short plate, pork belly, and other large chunk or sliced meat options)
• Frozen poultry (e.g., chopped or whole chicken, duck, or turkey)
• Frozen Chinese dim sum (e.g., dumplings, chicken feet, spareribs, etc.)
• Frozen fruits (e.g., strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.)
• Frozen vegetables (e.g., green beans, broccoli, peas, corn, carrots, potatoes, etc.)
• Frozen desserts (e.g., cheesecakes, cakes, cookie doughs, ice creams, etc.) 
• Frozen processed meats (e.g., hotdogs, marinated ribs, hams, cured bacon, pancetta, etc.)

The market for frozen food involves the foodies, the convenience food lovers, and even the health-conscious. As more and more people stay at home in the next few years, the frozen food market will continue to grow and expand. So, take advantage of it before it’s too late.

4. Pet Foods

If humans can have their favorite foods delivered in the comfort of their homes, so do their pets. This is where another unique food delivery business comes in—pet food delivery. You can start this business with a food delivery app specializing in pet foods.

With online pet food delivery, pet owners don’t need to waste their time and energy searching through different places for meals their pets can enjoy. All they need to do is sit back and search online. How quick, easy, and convenient is that?

When you start a pet food delivery business, make sure to let your customers filter your products for easy navigation and browsing. Pet foods may range from foods that must be consumed immediately to processed food items.

5. Midnight Snacks

These days, more and more people are spending the last hours of their days watching series and binging heartwarming movies. And they always do it with a few snacks on their sides. After all, watching movies is much better when you have something delicious in your mouth.

To satiate nighttime cravings, it’d be a good idea to start a food business that delivers a wide range of food options during the night.

You can start by searching for food delivery apps that focus more on providing midnight food cravings. Once you’ve found some, check if your customers order at midnight or at a particular time. For example, do they make advanced orders before 10:00 PM? 

Aside from the ordering period, other app features would still be like the other regular food delivery apps. However, you can offer additional options such as advanced ordering for a better customer experience.

6. Home-Cooked Meals

There are many people who can’t cook for themselves, leaving them with no other option but to order outside. However, this is also why they’re often tired of the same restaurants offering the same food.

These people always look for savory, nostalgic, and heartwarming meals from delivery apps. Of course, the app they’re looking for should provide an extensive menu, affordable pricing, and fast delivery.

Since many cooks don’t have restaurants focusing on home-cooked meals, a home-cooked food app would be great for them. This app will help them offer healthy meals just like every mom used to make. If you’re interested in this kind of business, your target market is people who are always busy and have no time to prepare their meals.

7. Milk And Dairy Products

Milk and other dairy goods are considered basic necessities of every household across the world. This demand has led to the development of milk apps in many countries.

At first, the idea of creating an app prioritizing milk and other dairy products was deemed foolish. But now, more and more people seem to value it as it allows them to purchase high-quality milk and dairy without getting distracted by other products.

A dairy delivery app could help people eliminate the hustle of getting milk and other dairy products from traditional sellers. You could also provide customers helpful filters to categorize your products based on their needs (e.g., lactose intolerant, non-fat, low-fat, skimmed, whole, full-cream, etc.)

Furthermore, a dairy delivery app allows customers to switch dairy brands and suppliers whenever they please, giving them a range of options to pick from. Why is this important? It’s because most people buy milk from the same supplier every day. Therefore, a dairy delivery app would be a good business idea to consider.

8. Fresh Fruits And Vegetables

Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to supply your body with all the essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber. For the past few years, the demand for produce straight from the farm has significantly increased. However, going to the market isn’t always feasible, especially for busy individuals.

The best way to address the problem is to diversify the market by delivering fresh fruits and vegetables to your customers. You can do this with the help of food delivery apps that focus on marketing and selling fresh produce.

In addition, it’d be a good idea to sell fruits and vegetables that are difficult to find at local markets and grocery stores. Also, consider including fresh salad delivery services. Health-conscious individuals and fruit lovers can appreciate this kind of business. All you need for this business are smartphones and vans to deliver fresh produce to your customers.

9. Organic Foods

As mentioned earlier, people are becoming more conscious of their health. This makes them increasingly conscious about what they eat and how it’s produced. They want the items delivered to their houses to be as organic as possible, free from harmful chemicals and toxic substances.

An organic food app would be focusing on marketing and selling organic fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meats. This boosts local agricultural businesses, promotes sustainable living, and teaches consumers the importance of eating locally-grown, organic food products.

However, there are myths surrounding the organic food delivery business. Some believe that the concept of organic food is nothing but a fad that’ll fade away someday. Also, most people think it’s not a feasible option because it’s more pricey and not readily accessible.

Because of these myths, an organic food delivery app has become more necessary. With this app, consumers will be able to purchase organic goods anytime, anywhere, at a reasonable cost.

10. Egg Delivery

Eggs are one of the most important ingredients in the food industry. Delivering eggs offers a wide range of audiences, from individuals and restaurants to industrial plants, commissaries, and even hotels. This allows you to increase your chances of making more money.

Another great thing about the egg delivery business is that it can be a long-term business. And there are even better chances of acquiring new potential customers, depending on the demand. On top of that, the egg delivery business allows you to build partnerships with local farmers and producers as much as possible. Of course, that’d depend on the demand for eggs in the market.

Fortunately, that demand is gradually changing and is predicted to increase in the coming years as people see it as a low-cost protein source. To start an egg delivery business, you’ll need a car, van, or truck to transport eggs to different locations on time.

11. Sandwiches And Salads

Delivering sandwiches and salads has great potential to yield better results in terms of popularity and revenue. This food delivery business is ideal for consumers with strict dietary needs and habits such as athletes, models, gym enthusiasts, and health-conscious individuals.

In addition, delivering salads and sandwiches provides different options:

• You can sell and deliver sandwiches and salads personally to your customers.
• You can use a food delivery app to promote, sell, and deliver your sandwiches and salads.
• You can form a partnership with restaurants, cafes, and hotels that need sandwiches and salads for their customers.

Once your sandwiches and salads are ready, you can deliver them right away to your customer’s doorsteps. How easy that is! 

Another great thing about the sandwich and salad delivery business is that it doesn’t require a huge startup cost and a commercial kitchen. You can start in your own kitchen with a few bucks. Also, you’ll need a car or an express delivery courier to deliver your goods to your customers.

12. Coffee Delivery

Coffee is the world’s second-most popular beverage, next to water. Since most people start their day with an energizing cup of coffee, it’d be a good idea to take advantage of the situation by starting a coffee delivery business.

You can start a pop-up coffee shop with delivery services or a small business that offers subscription boxes filled with coffee and other related products. You can also build a coffee delivery business that focuses on serving corporate employees before they start their busy day.

When you start a coffee delivery business, it’s a good idea to be location-wise to make it easy for you to deliver your coffee products on time.

Final Words

Food delivery businesses have been on a roll these past few months and will continue to do so in the coming years. That’s because more and more people stay and work indoors. So, seize this opportunity and start your own. You can refer to some of the unique food delivery business ideas above in case you haven’t thought of one yet. These promising ideas have great potential to be huge in the market in the coming months or years.