How to Start a Meal Prep Business

Step 1: Check your local rules first

This is the step that can shut you down if you skip it. We're not lawyers, and food rules change by state and even by county, so treat this as a map of questions to ask, not legal advice.

The big one: cottage food laws usually don't cover meal prep. Cottage food laws let you sell certain foods made in your home kitchen, but in most states they're limited to shelf stable things like baked goods without cream fillings, candy, jams and dry mixes. Mississippi's list, for example, leaves out meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, cooked vegetables and rice. That's basically every meal prep container.

A few places are loosening this. In California, counties can opt in to permits for small microenterprise home kitchens with meal and sales limits. Texas changed its cottage food law in 2025 so registered home producers can sell some foods that need refrigeration directly to customers, with labeling rules and a yearly sales cap. These are exceptions, so don't assume your state works the same way.

Call your county or city health department (sometimes called environmental health) and ask:

• Can I sell refrigerated or frozen prepared meals from my home in this county?
• If not, what permit do I need to operate out of a shared or commissary kitchen?
• Do you need to review my plan or menu before I start?
• What food safety certification does the person in charge need?
• What do you require on labels, and are there rules for delivering meals?

Write down who you talked to and what they said. It saves you later when a kitchen or insurer asks.

Step 2: Find a licensed kitchen

Since most meal prep can't be made at home, you'll likely rent time in a licensed kitchen. Your options:

• Shared use or commissary kitchens. Kitchens built to rent by the hour or by the shift to small food businesses. Many counties treat you as a separate operator, so you get your own permit and sign a rental agreement with the kitchen.
• A restaurant, church or caterer with a licensed kitchen. Some will rent their space on days they're closed. Ask your health department if that kitchen can host another operator.
• Your own commercial space. The most control and the biggest bill. Most new kitchens wait until they've outgrown rented time.

When you tour a kitchen, ask about hourly rates, minimum hours, cooler and freezer space, storage, and what insurance they require. Many shared kitchens want proof of liability insurance before your first shift.

Step 3: Get certified and permitted

There are usually two kinds of food safety training, and you may need one or both:

• Food handler card. A short, basic course for anyone who touches food. Some states and counties require it for every worker.
• Food protection manager certification. A longer course and a proctored exam. The FDA Food Code, the model that most state and local food rules are built from, calls for the person in charge to be a certified food protection manager. Georgia, for example, requires at least one supervisor to hold an ANSI accredited certification. ServSafe Manager is one of the best known options.

With your kitchen and certification lined up, apply for your health permit. Depending on your county, that may mean a plan review, a fee and an inspection. Don't sell a meal until it's approved.

Step 4: Register the business and get insured

Pick a business structure. You can start as a sole proprietor without filing anything, but many food businesses form an LLC. The SBA notes LLCs protect you from personal liability in most instances, which matters when you're feeding people. LLCs register with your state, usually through the Secretary of State.

Get an EIN. It's your federal tax ID, and it's free from the IRS. Skip websites that charge you for it. You'll want it for a business bank account and for payment processing.

Check other local licenses. Your city or county may require a general business license, and if you sell under a name that isn't yours, you may need to register a DBA.

Get insurance. Talk to an agent about:

• General liability for injuries connected to your business, like someone slipping during pickup.
• Product liability for harm from the food itself, like foodborne illness, an allergic reaction or a foreign object. Penn State Extension calls this essential for any food business.
• Commercial auto if you or a driver deliver meals. Personal car policies may not cover business use.
• Workers' comp once you hire help, as your state requires.

Step 5: Pick a niche and build a small menu

"Healthy meals" isn't a niche. "High protein meals for people who lift" is. A clear niche tells people who you cook for and makes your first 20 customers much easier to find. Some that work well for a home cook or trainer:

• Macro friendly meals for gym members and personal training clients
• Family dinners for busy parents, sold by the tray
• Gluten free or dairy free meals (only if your kitchen can truly prevent cross contact)
• Plant based meals

Start with four to six meals. Fewer meals means fewer ingredients, a shorter shopping list, faster prep and less waste. Reuse ingredients across dishes: the same roasted chicken can go into a burrito bowl and a pesto pasta. Rotate one or two meals each week so regulars don't get bored, and keep your best seller on every menu.

Test every recipe like a customer: cook it, chill it overnight, reheat it in a microwave. Fix anything that dries out or goes soft before you sell it.

Step 6: Price every meal with the food cost method

The simplest way to price meal prep is the food cost percentage method. Work out what the ingredients in one meal cost you, then divide by the share of the price you want ingredients to take. Many food businesses aim for 30 to 35%.

Price = ingredient cost per meal ÷ target food cost %

So a meal with $4 of ingredients should sell for roughly $11.50 to $13.50. If you land in the middle at $12, your food cost is $4 ÷ $12, or 33%.

To get the $4, cost out the recipe by weight. If chicken breast costs you $3.50 a pound and each meal gets 6 ounces raw, that's about $1.31 of chicken. Do the same for the rice, vegetables, sauce and oil, then add a little for waste. Those are example prices, so use your own receipts.

Food cost isn't the only cost. Here's one example week to show where the money goes.

That $270 has to pay for your shopping, cooking, packing and delivery hours, plus insurance and gas. If it feels thin, you have three levers: raise prices, cut ingredient cost, or sell more meals per prep shift. Kitchen time is mostly fixed, so going from 60 to 100 meals in the same shift makes a big difference. Recheck your food cost every few weeks, because grocery prices move.

Step 7: Choose your packaging

Your container is the first thing a customer touches, and it decides whether the meal survives the fridge and the microwave. Look for:

• Microwave safe and leak resistant. Most customers reheat at work. Test a few brands with your saucier meals.
• Compartments for meals that shouldn't touch, like a salad next to a warm protein.
• Stackable and the right size. They need to fit your cooler bags and your customers' fridges.
• Room for a label. Ask your health department what your labels need to show. Most kitchens list the meal name, ingredients, major allergens, a use by date and reheating steps.

Buy a small case and test it before you order a pallet. Plan to keep meals cold all the way to the customer, with insulated bags or coolers and ice packs.

Step 8: Set your weekly order rhythm

Meal prep runs on a weekly loop. You post the menu, take orders until a cutoff, cook exactly what was ordered, and hand it off. Customers learn the rhythm quickly, and preorders mean you never cook for orders that don't come. Here's one common schedule:

Pick days that fit your kitchen rental and your life, then keep them steady. A cutoff two days before prep gives you time to shop.

Pickup, delivery or both

Many kitchens start with one or two pickup spots and add delivery once they have enough orders in a few ZIP codes. Our meal prep delivery software guide covers what routes and driver tools look like.

Step 9: Set up your ordering software

You can take your first orders through DMs and payment apps. By week three you'll be copying orders into a spreadsheet at midnight and missing someone's allergy note. Good software runs the weekly loop for you. Here's what to look for:

For a new kitchen, Prepwork is the best fit, and it's the one we rank #1 overall. It's $9 a month flat with unlimited meals, orders and customers, no contract and no setup fee. You can build your whole store for free and pay nothing until you go live.

We're the team behind Prepwork. How we rate

Here's what you get on day one:

• Your own ordering site at your-name.prepwork.io with sizes, calories and macros on every meal. Customers pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank, and they don't need an app. Click around Prepwork's live demo store to see it.
• Prep totals and shopping lists built from your recipes, with converted units, estimated cost and your weekly margin. That's the pricing math from step 6, done for you every week, subscription renewals included.
• Texting at 2¢ a segment from a local number customers can reply to. No monthly number fee.
• Delivery built in: one tap routes for every driver, a driver app in any phone browser, and texts with a delivery window, live arrival time and doorstep photo.
• A free setup call with a person, plus call or text support Monday to Saturday. If you need something it doesn't do yet, the founder builds custom features for kitchens.

Customers pay a 1.9% service fee at checkout, and card processing is 2.9% + 30¢ through your own Stripe. You can see Prepwork's pricing and start building today. For the bigger picture, see our guides to software for small meal prep businesses, building an ordering website and weekly subscriptions, or all six platforms ranked.

Step 10: Get your first customers

Your first 20 customers come from people who already know you. Don't spend money on ads yet.

Make it easy to come back. Weekly subscriptions turn one time buyers into steady orders, and a small referral coupon gets regulars talking.

Your startup checklist

Questions

Do I need a license to start a meal prep business?

In most states, yes. Meal prep usually means selling refrigerated meals with meat, rice, dairy or cooked vegetables, which most cottage food laws don't cover. That typically means a health department permit, a licensed kitchen and a certified food protection manager. Rules vary by state and county, so call your local health department first.

Can I run a meal prep business from my home kitchen?

Usually not. Most cottage food laws only cover shelf stable foods like baked goods and candy. A few places allow some home cooked meals with limits, like California counties that opt in to home kitchen permits and Texas's 2025 cottage food change. Ask your health department what applies to your address.

How do I price meal prep?

Use the food cost percentage method. Add up the ingredient cost of one meal, then divide by your target food cost, often 30 to 35 percent. A meal with $4 of ingredients comes out to about $11.43 at 35 percent and $13.33 at 30 percent. Then check that kitchen rent, packaging, card fees and your time still fit.

What's the difference between a food handler card and ServSafe Manager?

A food handler card is basic training for anyone who touches food. A food protection manager certification, like ServSafe Manager, is a longer course with a proctored exam, and it's the one most health departments want the person in charge to hold. Your county decides which ones you need.

How many meals should I make my first week?

Only what people have already ordered. Take preorders with a cutoff, then cook to your prep totals. A small menu of four to six meals keeps your shopping, cooking and packing simple while you learn your rhythm.

What software do I need to start a meal prep business?

You need an online menu with cutoffs, card payments, weekly subscriptions, prep totals and shopping lists, texting and delivery tools. Prepwork does all of that for $9 a month, and you pay nothing until your store goes live.

Sources

1. FDA Food Code (model code that state and local regulators adopt): fda.gov/food/retail-food-protection/fda-food-code
2. Mississippi State University Extension, what you should know about starting a cottage food business: extension.msstate.edu
3. Texas Legislature, S.B. 541 (2025), cottage food production operations: capitol.texas.gov
4. Los Angeles County Public Health, Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations: publichealth.lacounty.gov
5. San Luis Obispo County Environmental Health, commissary and shared permanent food facility information: slocounty.ca.gov
6. Georgia Department of Agriculture, Certified Food Protection Managers: agr.georgia.gov
7. ServSafe food handler and manager programs: servsafe.com
8. U.S. Small Business Administration, choose a business structure: sba.gov; register your business: sba.gov; apply for licenses and permits: sba.gov
9. Penn State Extension, Food for Profit: insurance for food entrepreneurs: extension.psu.edu
10. Prepwork pricing and features: prepwork.io, checked Nov 3, 2026

Sources checked November 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your state and county health department has the final word.