Hey! Food is Ready

SEIS eligible

I see a lot of interesting parallels with today’s business and Deliveroo for Business (something I ran in a previous life). Huge market opportunity with high ATV’s and repeat rates if you nail your USP.

This is also an SEIS opportunity.

Yuru, has done a great job bootstrapping this and is now looking to raise funds to unlock the next stage of growth. Her background and story is inspiring as is her passion for building this business.

Introducing: Hey! Food is Ready

Hey! Food is Ready is an online marketplace that brings the authentic global foods of independent certified culinarians, such as specialist private chefs, home cooks, caterers, artisan bakers, and homemade food producers, into the market. The platform connects its community of culinarians from different cultural backgrounds with corporate and individual customers seeking a diverse food experience, including catering, meal delivery, cooking classes, and more.

The company is currently trading with a focus on delivering experiences to businesses (B2B) but has plans to develop its consumer offerings (B2C).

This platform helps refugees, immigrants, stay-at-home parents, retirees, and anyone who loves cooking to share their native cuisine, culture, and stories with the wider community while generating a meaningful income. The aim is to promote diversity in the workplace through food, showcase food cultures from minority ethnic groups, and support local cooks.

• Demo: app.heyfoodisready.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyfoodisready/

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hey-food-is-ready1/

The Story

Yuru is a passionate entrepreneur and innovator with a strong commitment to making a difference. In 2016, she embarked on a transformative journey, working with the UN Refugee Agency as a fundraising coordinator in New York. This experience provided invaluable insights into the challenges of cultural assimilation and ignited her determination to take a stand and create positive change. This led to her forming Hey! Food is Ready. 

What is the problem?

The catering industry is not fit for a modern multicultural society

There’s a growing appetite for varied and authentic world foods, yet the catering industry is stuck in the past with westernised dishes and unregulated cooks. 

What is the solution?

Diverse food, inspired by culture

Our culinary marketplace provides world cuisines cooked the traditional way by those who know the dish best.

• Discover diverse cuisines

• Deliver quantifiable social impact

• Discover regulated cooks 

Team

Yuru Guo | Founder & CEO
Ex-UN Refugee Agency fundraising coordinator and Innovate UK Young Innovator Award Winner. Started the first food business at university and sold it to the student union after a year.

Luc Theobald | CFO
Passionate about delivering social impact with excellent analysis. Investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Y E Leong | Head of Business Development
Experienced business development director. Ex- Trainline head of partnership, Ex-AirAsia head of Business Development, Ex-Tencent, first employee of Wechat Malaysia. 

Greg Rice | Tech Partner / NED

Founder of Activate Studio with decades of tech start-up experiences including 2 IPOs. NED for several marketplace start-ups.

How it works: 

The platform user interface is designed to make browsing and booking fast and simple:

1. Browse – choose from a range of cooks, cuisines and cultures

2. Select – select the food service required and add menu options, date, time and location of

the delivery or event

3. Book and Pay – confirm the order and secure the booking with the payment

4. Enjoy – receive the dish at any location and leave a review

Market Opportunity
$276bn – value of the global catering services & food market

£8bn – value of the UK event catering & food service sector

£454m – target GMV by Year 5 and 0.16% market share 

Traction

In December 2022, the company catered for its first corporate event after pivoting from B2C (online marketplace connecting home cooks with customers) to B2B. Without any equity investment or paid advertising activities, the company/a small founding team has organically achieved the following:

• 125 independent chefs with a further 350+ chefs on the waiting list

• £489 average order value per event in 2024, up from £375 in 2022

• £60,000+ revenue generated through the platform

• 120+ catered events across London, Newcastle and Durham

• 65 high profile corporate clients, including Google, UK Government, Duchy of Cornwall, Conde Nast, Barclays and Danone

• Over 5,000 covers/portions/plates sold via the platform

• Repeat bookings from 80% of customers

• Referrals from 61% of customers

• £70,000 of equity-free grant funding raised

• 5-star reviews on TrustPilot and Google

Most importantly, this phase demonstrated that both independent chefs and corporate clients were happy with the platform and that there was demand for the service.

Testimonial: 

Samantha (Newcastle Film Club) – “The Hey! Food is Ready team is very responsive and the food from their chefs is absolutely amazing. Our guests who got to enjoy the food really enjoyed the diversity of food on offer and that it was presented in such a professional way when delivered to our event. Would recommend Hey! Food is Ready for anyone who's looking to cater for their event with cultural dishes from around the world at a great price!”

Sun (TusPark) -  “The cooks were extremely friendly and welcoming. They greeted us with big smiles and were more than happy to chat with us about the food they had prepared. It was evident that they had put a lot of dedication and care into their work. Hey! Food is Ready is a great reminder of how tasty food can bring people together and do good things at the same time.”

Revenue Model

Revenue via marketplace commissions

They charge a 15%–20% commission, plus delivery fees on each order.

Fundraise 

Hey! Food is Ready is raising £500k (SEIS/EIS available), with £100k already committed. This investment will be used to expand their presence to three cities, establish a repeatable B2B sales pipeline, and develop robust marketplace platform functionalities.

To see the full investor deck please subscribe below and please reach out to me if you’d like an introduction: