When people think of home meal delivery services, major brands like Marley Spoon, Youfoodz and My Muscle Chef probably spring to mind. But a growing number of consumers are choosing smaller independent companies that cater to increasingly specialised preferences. 

IBISWorld estimates the meal kit delivery market in Australia to be worth just over $1 billion annually, while the prepared meal market’s current worth is approximately $1.85 billion.  

The latter has grown at an annualised 1.1% over the last five years to the 2025 financial year and is projected to grow at an average of 1.3% over the next five years to $1.98 billion in the 2030 financial year.  

IBISWorld analyst Joshua Campbell estimates there are 246 prepared meal enterprises currently in operation in Australia, with the industry showing sustained growth with limited volatility.

“Frozen ready-made meals accounted for 46% of the ready-made meals market 2020. However, chilled, ready-made meals are increasingly becoming a consumer preference.  These shifting consumer trends stem from a combination of rising health consciousness and an increased desire for convenient, ready-made meals.” 

Smaller players like Activate Foods are muscling in on the meal delivery industry. Picture: Supplied

According to IBISWorld, the four major players of the prepared meals industry, which include Lite n’ Easy and My Muscle Chef, make up 64.9% of the market, however competition from competitors is growing at an average of 5.1% per year. 

From local names to a long-running business on the cusp of national prominence, we meet three Aussie entrepreneurs shaking up the meal delivery industry. 

A local institution

Like many start-ups, Jessie Stevenson’s business The Nourishing Point began as a passionate side hustle. 

In 2018, after noticing many people didn’t have time to create their own healthy meals, the qualified nutritionist began personalised cooking experiences for the time-poor families of Sydney’s Northern Beaches – preparing households with home cooked meals from the convenience of their own kitchens.

“I started working with one family every fortnight in my spare time. After two years, I was able to leave my full-time job to fully pursue the business and then grew my client base to over 10 homes per week,” she told realcommercial.com.au. 

Nutritionist Jessie Stevenson launched The Nourishing Point as a side-hustle in 2018, before turning the business into a full-time gig two years later. Picture: Supplied

Over the next two years, reputation for Jessie’s freshly prepared meals spread throughout the region.  

As demand grew, she moved the operation into her own home kitchen in Freshwater, increased output to 70 meals per week and began delivering them fresh from kitchen to door. 

“That number has now increased to between 120 and 160 meals every Tuesday. I have also recently employed two amazing staff and a host of drivers over the last year to help out as the business expands,” Ms Stevenson explained. 

“I think I’ve been able to be successful because people in the Northern Beaches are generally quite health conscious. All my meals are nutritionist-made, organic and never frozen. I focus on protein being the most important macronutrient in the meal, with no preservatives and made on the same day of delivery.” 

Ms Stevenson said she loves having a career that truly aligns with her passion. 

“The flexibility is wonderful, especially with a young child, and I’m incredibly grateful to have a job and run a business I genuinely love. So much so that some days it doesn’t even feel like work! That being said, running my own business means the work never really stops, except during my break over Christmas.” 

The regional success story

Now in its eighth year of operation in the NSW Central Coast, Activate Foods similarly began as a side project for husband and wife team Marty & Megan Bowden. 

While working as a personal trainer, Marty drew on his background as a chef and started preparing healthy packaged meals for his clients.  

“We ended up getting to the point where we were cooking around 300 meals a week from our kitchen. Word of mouth spread and we started getting strangers calling up from Sydney asking if we could make them meals. That’s when we realised we were onto something,” Mr Bowden explained.

Activate Foods launched as a local initiative on the NSW central coast, but has since expanded to Sydney and Newcastle. Picture: Supplied

Through his hospitality connections, Marty and Megan leased a commercial kitchen and storage space in Erina, hired staff, and focused on expanding the business. 

Since its launch, Activate Foods has experienced annual growth ranging from 25% to 50% and currently produces between 3,000 and 5,000 meals each week, delivering to customers in Sydney, Newcastle, and the Central Coast. 

Mr Bowden had considered expanding delivery into Brisbane and Melbourne this year, but found that refrigeration transport companies cater exclusively to either fresh or frozen products. 

“We offer both, so it turned out to be rather cost prohibitive. Initially we saw not being able to expand into new territories as a negative, but it’s actually a positive, as our ability to offer both fresh and frozen allows us to sell more products.” 

“Growing too large can really limit what you can offer. I’ve seen companies come and go since we started and a lot of them invest too much too quickly or try to grow without getting the flow of the business in place first,” Mr Bowden added. 

“We’ve made a conscious decision to become the best in our area and keep working within our niche – 100% chef made, gluten free meals. A lot of the big companies claim to be chef prepared, but you can tell it’s just run off production lines. We literally make everything from scratch.” 

While operating an independent meal delivery service can be extremely demanding, with long hours and a continuous weekly production cycle, Mr Bowden says he wouldn’t want it any differently. 

“Sometimes you forget the alternative is working for a big corporate company who doesn’t quite care the same about what we do as much as we do. All our blood, sweat and tears is for us and our family and the reward and satisfaction of doing something for yourself is what keeps us going.” 

Going national  

The Dinner Ladies is a home meal delivery company with bold aspirations to become a national household name. 

Founded by a pair of pan-wielding mothers back in 2007, the company has grown from its humble beginnings in a backyard Bronte shed to a market leader in snap frozen home meal delivery, currently producing 30,000 product units a week out of its Matraville manufacturing facility. 

CEO Brad Rom pointed to the Covid lockdown years as a pivotal turning point for the business. 

“During that period where people couldn’t leave their homes, food being delivered to your door suddenly went from a niche to mainstream practice. It certainly created an unprecedented demand for our business,” he said. 

“But at that point in time, I would argue the business wasn’t really set up for huge amounts of scale. Covid was the catalyst for us to bring all the right expertise into play, such as technology overhaul, refining our operational skills to allow us to really capitalise on increased demand and sourcing key people.” 

The Dinner Ladies CEO Brad Rom said the pandemic normalised home food delivery, creating huge demand which allowed the business to expand. Picture: Supplied

The Dinner Ladies currently employs 112 staff, a number which has grown by 20% in the last two years. 

Since 2020, deliveries have expanded into Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, South Australia, and as of last month, Western Australia. 

Mr Rom said maintaining product quality and consistency as the company grows will be one of the biggest challenges. 

“Ensuring temperature control operations with our third-party logistics partner are running as smoothly as possible is front of mind at the moment, so that our meals can reach postcodes across Australia safely,” he said. 

“And that includes foreseeing any bottle neck issues that may arise with cold storage facilities by working with external partners to ensure we have ample storage space.” 

The Dinner Ladies has come a long way since launching in 2007, and now ships more than 30,000 products a week. Picture: Supplied

In the coming years, Mr. Rom aims to double the business with the goal of establishing The Dinner Ladies as a recognised household brand throughout Australia. 

“Our recent brand refresh and forthcoming rollout of a major marketing campaign will play a major role in creating awareness for people that haven’t heard of us yet. If we strategically time and implement our plans, I strongly believe we can expand and continue to be a market leader in the niche that we operate.”