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Elite Meal Prep

“At the time we were using 4 different systems to try and figure out our shopping list, meal counts, and everything else.”

Paul Arellano launched Elite Meal Prep in Salt Lake City, Utah on the very first day of 2017 after his own successful weight loss journey. Unhappy with his own weight and lifestyle in 2016, he dedicated weeks to researching and experimenting with meal prep until he finally created a nutritious, tasty menu yielding quick results. Since Paul was able to create a meal plan that didn’t sacrifice taste, he became committed to empowering other people to achieve the same results. Today, Elite Meal Prep remains known for its ideal combination of portion control, great tastes, and affordable prices. 

Challenges pre-Sprwt

Paul has run his business both independently and with help from other meal-prep software companies. But in both circumstances, he was getting constant requests from his customers for more customizable options – especially for the ability to pick their own meals. Furthermore, his team was using 4 different systems for their day-to-day operations: to make and organize their shopping lists, meal counts, customer orders, and more. If a customer voiced their nutritional needs or allergens – which they inevitably have – there was no efficient way to communicate this to the kitchen. For years, Paul tried to simplify this process, but to no avail.

“Michael reached out to me and started showing me some of the features that my customers had been asking me for years – mainly the custom meal-builder option. I was always telling people no. And for years I was trying to figure out how to communicate someone’s specific nutritional information with my kitchen and make it simplified.”
“The thing that really sold me on Sprwt was that fact that you had all your labels, recipe costing, recipe design, and everything else integrated into one software. Integrating it all into one place really made a HUGE difference.”
“It’s very efficient to be able to communicate exactly we need – in some instances even on a microscopic level – and not having to waste too much of any given product.”

INTRO/OVERVIEW

Streamlined Day-to-Day Operations

The first Sprwt feature that caught Paul’s eye was the custom meal-builder option. Finally he could stop saying no to his customers, and start giving them exactly what they wanted, and more. That all his labels, recipe costing, and recipe designs were integrated into one platform was life changing for Paul. With their old system, the team would sit down for as long as 2 hours, create a shopping list on one software, translate this information to another software to create labels, and more. Now? It takes 5-10 minutes.

Paul is also committed to delivering food that is as fresh as possible and made to order – they never freeze their food. On their prep days, in between their three weekly production days, Paul paid employees to go to the kitchen and make sure their food meets these standards. Now, he’s seen his labor price drop, because he no longer has to pay employees hours to monitor kitchen logistics on prep days – it takes merely 10-15 minutes.

The team treasures the accuracy and precision afforded by Sprwt’s kitchen reports. A proponent of food sustainability, Paul has always been conscious about purchasing exactly what they need. Even so, they usually ended up overestimating the food needed for a given set of orders. Paul is now amazed by the automatic synchronization of his recipe information with his customer orders: if one recipe requires a teaspoon of salt, the inventory list will update with exactly how much salt is needed for all the orders. And above all, this requires no time or effort on Paul’s end.

During and even beyond the transition to this software, the Sprwt team has been a consistent source of support for any glitches Paul encounters on a day-to-day basis. We assign an individual customer success agent to each of our clients, guaranteeing personalized attention and support 24-7. To that end, Paul is especially grateful to Sprwt employee Crystal for her responsiveness and hands-on technical support.

Customer Experience

His customers reap the benefits of these significantly streamlined operations on the background. In the past, Paul would get questions all the time about his customer’s allergies and other dietary restrictions, and have no choice but to personally record each note and remind the chef. And as anyone in the food industry knows, the last thing you want to do is make somebody sick. Now, all of his customers are accustomed to simply inputting their allergens, dislikes, and likes into their profiles. Without Paul doing a thing, this information is automatically communicated with the kitchen, so that before the chefs even begin cooking, they know exactly how many meals need to be made separately so as to avoid cross-contamination.

With his prior system, Paul wasn’t able to reward his customers other than physically giving them refunds. He has taken advantage of Sprwt’s loyalty program to build customer relationships and incentivize more sales, and appreciates the ability to personally connect with customers more than ever before. And, he’s doing so with no extra effort – rather, the loyalty program provides yet another timesaver.

“Our prep process for figuring out what everyone’s orders are used to take about two hours. Now we’re down to 5-10 minutes.”
More Customers & More Time to Make Delicious Food

The combination of improved customer service and unthinkably efficient operations has allowed Paul to focus on what he does best: create delicious menus. And as a result, he’s significantly expanded his customer base since starting with Sprwt. While his target demographic was initially focused on “guys like him” – lazy, unwilling to put in extra effort, he has since begun to appeal to a wider range of customers. Health and fitness foodies have switched to Elite Meal Prep from his major competitor, motivated by the chance to keep track of their macros. Paul is proud of the rich variety his menu offers – he knows that healthy food can be more interesting than chicken, rice, and vegetables. What about street tacos? Low-carb french toast? Let Paul meal-prep for you, and you won’t be making any sacrifices.

Most recently, Paul was thrilled to receive his largest order yet, when a care center purchased over 200 meals for nearly $3,000. Even with such massive quantities of food, and the many associated logistics, he was grateful that the Sprwt system handled everything flawlessly.