Job opportunities are developing all around the country, and people are moving to big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Delhi to pursue their dream jobs. The big cities have faced a major influx of population because of increasing job opportunities and new educational institutes.
Moving to a new city is fun only if you can manage your expenses. The biggest expense is rent and food; if you can manage these two things efficiently, you can focus on your dream. Cooking food can be an option, but it is time-consuming and tiresome. The tiffin services come to the rescue. Register your name and meal choice in your local tiffin centres.
Tiffin service is a catering service where the foods are prepared on a large scale, packed and delivered to the customer on a contract basis. The tiffin business has shown potential growth because it is economical for customers and service providers.
Did you know?
You can get clients for your tiffin service by advertising your tiffin service business in nearby hotels and advertising agencies.
Starting a Tiffin Centre Business
To start a tiffin service business, you have to understand the tiffin market carefully and make a plan accordingly to attract more customers. The points mentioned below will help you make a full proof plan to start a full-fledged tiffin service.
Also Read: Ultimate Guide to Opening a Cloud Kitchen Business in India
Fund Generation
Fund generation is the first step to starting any business. Usually, tiffin service startups in India can cost ₹10,000 for about 15-20 customers per month. If you want to start a tiffin service with large scale customers, your investment will increase accordingly.
Moreover, the principal investment should not be overlooked, including cooking utensils and ovens. Clubbing your business with hotels can give support in your initial days.
Creating Plan
You have to understand your customer and the market. The first and foremost thing to remember in a tiffin service is preparing tasty food on a large scale using limited oils and spices.
Customers benefiting from tiffin services mostly live alone in the city and prefer home-cooked food that is pocket friendly. So you have to provide them accordingly with your profit from the business. Moreover, the tiffin service business has a chain-like system connected to many other businesses. You have to choose the vegetable carefully, a vendor who can provide fresh vegetables, a delivery person who is punctual and reliable, etc.
Associating With a Delivery System
It is extremely important to choose a reliable delivery system. The customer will prefer your tiffin service over others if you have good food quality and deliver their tiffins on time. The chosen delivery system should be prompt.
Apart from that, they should have a flexible contract term and maintain punctuality.
Marketing
There are many tiffin centres around, so you should be ready to market in the best possible way to put your tiffin business on the map. Social media is the best platform to advertise your business. Posting on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, developing strong SEO, etc., can help you gain new ground.
Offline marketing can also help gain customers, like pamphlets and sticking posters nearby your location. Mumbai is well-known for its Dabba service. If you are setting up a tiffin centre business in Mumbai, you can take advantage by giving out tiffin service pamphlets in Marathi.
WhatsApp Business can be your business-friendly app and help you connect personally with the delivery services and the customers.
The best way to market your business is by increasing the number of organic customers. If the customer is satisfied with your services, they will recommend your business to their co-workers, friends, and family. Thus one should never forget to take customer reviews positively and improve accordingly.
Requirements for Tiffin Service
Starting a tiffin service business requires a business plan and major requirements.
Some of the major principal needs are mentioned below.
Culinary skills
A tiffin centre investment is more about having good culinary and management skills. If you are passionate about cooking a variety of tasty food, you will be successful in this business.
You can also hire people with good culinary skills and involve them in making various dishes. The more variety you can provide, the more customers will enjoy their daily food surprise.
Menu
The menu should cater to the majority of your customers. The menu should be flexible and be based on seasonal vegetables. You can set the menu for a month or a week and change it according to the customer reviews. If you can improve your menu according to the customers’ preferences, it’ll help you build an organic customer base.
Tiffin Boxes
Tiffin boxes are necessary to pack tiffins and deliver them. The investment in tiffin boxes should be reasonable. Stainless steel tiffin boxes are ideal for packing foods as they last longer and are sturdy.
You should avoid tiffin boxes made of low quality plastic as they can react with warm food and release harmful chemicals. Moreover, plastics are prone to breakage, and the tiffin service delivery system demands sturdy tiffins because the delivery process involves a lot of tiffin handling from one person to another.
Licence
The size of your business will decide whether you need to apply for a food and safety licence or not. If the turnover of your business is above ₹12 lakhs per year, you have to apply for a food and safety licence from the FSSAI or Food safety and legal authority of India.
Having a food and safety licence can help you avoid legal issues.
Also Read: How to Start a Catering Business?
Types of Equipment
Pieces of equipment are an important accessory for food-based businesses. A spacious kitchen to cook food, utensils and oven for commercial use are the most important pieces of equipment. A food processor, chopper, flour kneader and others are important equipment that can ease your work to a great extent.
Refrigerators are important to store raw vegetables and leftovers.
Customer Base
The customers are the basic requirement without whom the business will fall apart. Therefore you should target customer criteria, like young students living in pg, young professionals living away from home, working couples, etc.
The advertisement should be done accordingly, like social media for young customers, tiffin service pamphlets for the customer base who prefer newspapers over social media, etc.
Attracting Customers
Once the question of how to start a tiffin service business has been answered, the next question arises how to attract customers and gain popularity. We can easily gain customers by branching the business into subunits and increasing the service provided to the customers. Some of the services that you can include are:
Healthy Diet Service
With exposure to social media, people are becoming health conscious. Many individuals are on a diet most of the time. Different types of diets have different requirements. For example, the keto diet strictly follows no carbohydrates. Protein-based food, high in good fats and fibre, is customers' first choice. If the menu can include a healthy diet such as sprout salad, Russian salad, chicken and brown rice, it can target health-conscious customers.
Tiffin Services Based on App
If your tiffin services are controlled on the app, it will be easy for customers to choose their meal plan, subscription, and meal type. Not only customers, but it will make your management easy too.
Subscription of Meals
The subscription of the meals should be flexible. A person trying for the first time can take a weekly subscription to understand your food and service quality and quantity.
This way, more customers will approach your business to try your service. A tiffin service business plan should be given to the customers to understand the subscription better.
Conclusion
The following post will help you with a tiffin service business plan. The post has covered all the important key points needed to start a tiffin service business. Starting any business can be challenging if you do not know the basics of the business, and this post helps you understand the basic points needed for the business.
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