Home Based Business Mobile Restaurant

The home based business mobile restaurant delivers lunches to office workers or delivers meals to residences.

We've all seen the "lunch wagons" in front of office buildings or parked on street corners. This can be a profitable home based business if you can create a niche in your community.

In large metropolitan areas you will find many mobile restaurants. In areas experiencing population growths, you may be able to create a place for your business in your target area.

The meals you deliver can be prepared by you or you can pick up food from restaurants. If you prepare and package lunches and/or dinners, be prepared to put in long hours cooking and baking as well as delivering the lunches and dinners. You will need to invest in packaging for the meals you prepare.

If you develop your home based business to deliver lunches to offices, make sure you have menus prepared for each day of the week. If you are delivering to the same offices, you want to be able to give them a variety of choices each day. You can create special menus for each day of the week and leave the menu for the next day when you make your delivery.

There are several ways to develop this home based business. You can contact individual businesses and offer to provide lunches for their employees. You will want to contract with the businesses for a specific number of lunches. You can create fliers and brochures and hand them out at local businesses for individuals to order from you. If you plan to deliver meals to individual residences, select your target area and create fliers and brochures for the residents.

Delivering restaurant meals to offices and to individual residences has gained popularity. Because my husband and I worked long hours, 12 to 14 hours a day and on weekends, this was a convenient service for us. When we lived in Arlington, Virginia we had a service that combined the meals from about 50 restaurants in the area. We selected the restaurant and the meal we wanted. In addition to the price of the meal as stated on the menu, we paid an additional handling charge plus applicable taxes. If a mistaake was made in the order, we had the option of keeping what we received or the delivery service would return to the restaurant for the correct item. If we didn't want to wait for the return, we would receive a credit for the item.

If you decide to develop this type of mobile restaurant, you will need to hire employees. You will need someone to answer the phone (maybe a family member) to take orders and phone the orders in to the restaurant and a delivery person to pick up the meals and deliver them. A cellular phone will be basic equipment for this type of business. While one person is making deliveries, more calls will be coming in. Your delivery staff does not have to be waiting in your office. You can work out arrangements whereby you call them on a cell phone and direct them to the restaurant and the delivery site. Of course, they do need to bring the money they've collected to you. In this type of home based business, you are paying the restaurant. This will probably require contractual obligations on your part. You may have to pay up-front until the restaurant owners establish a working relationship with you.

What does it take for this business?

You need to have experience in preparing meals that are attractive and healthy. You will probably need food service certification from your state. You will need to be able to establish relationships with vendors and suppliers.

What do I need to operate this business?  

You should set up a separate space for your home based business office. The start-up costs for this business will be approximately $1500 or more depending on whether you have to rent a professional kitchen to prepare your meals, if you need a delivery vehice, and if you have to hire employees. After you have decided what services you plan to offer, you need to determine what equipment and software you will need to operate your business.

Basic Equipment and Supplies:

• Certified kitchen
• Cell Phone
• Cooking Equipment
• Packaging supplies
• Contact Management or Organization software
• Business cards, brochures, fliers
• Menus
• Computer
• Printer

• Fax

You can review resources for this home based business here.

What services do I provide?

Delivery to home or office

What are my potential earnings?

Your earnings depend on the area you live in and whether you can develop a niche for your business.

Potential Earnings could be $25,000 + annually

How much do I charge for my services?

You can charge from $3.00 to $7.00 for delivery plus the cost of the meal. Your charge depends on the community you live in and the target area to which you are making a delivery. If you have contracted to deliver lunches to one office, you may want to charge a flat delivery fee for that office.

If you are delivering meals to individual residences, you will add your delivery charge to the bill. If you contract with individuals to deliver meals on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, you may want to bill them weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. You also have the option of having them pay a portion of the bill in advance.

How do I bill for my services?

If you are contracting with a business, you may want to do itemized monthly billings. If you are supplying lunches and/or dinners to individuals, you will want to present your bill on delivery.

How do I market my business?

Offline

• Create brochures and fliers describing your service.
• Call on businesses in your local community and leave your brochure and business card.
• List your services in the Yellow Pages.
• Issue a press release to your local and community newspapers.
• Network in business organizations in your community.
• Put your business card on community bulletin boards.

Online

• Create an informative Web site and list your services. List the benefits of your delivery service and let visitors know how convenient it will be use to use your delivery services.
• List your Web site in online directories.
• Issue an online press release.
• Link your Web site to related businesses.
• Link your Web site to local Web sites in your community.
• Publish client testimonials on your Web site.

If you like cooking and providing services to others, this may be the home based business opportunity for you. You can review resources for this home based business here.