Deepak Jain, the CEO of Makemymeal.ae speaks to Small Enterprise about why he wants to encourage everyone to eat on time and eat a wholesome meal.

Give us a background of your company.
We launched in 2016 with one single catering company as our partner in Dubai. Today we have 200+ restaurant and catering partners. We are in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman and have 10,000+ subscribers. We started with only web and now have our app for Android and iOS devices. We started with Indian cuisine and have now added Pakistani, Chinese, and Filipino, and this month we will be launching Arabic cuisine as well.

How did you conceptualise the idea behind MakeMyMeal?
I have been very blessed always. I have always carried my lunch box from home. Before marriage, my mom used to make it for me, and after marriage, my wife ensures I don’t miss my lunch. When I look around, most of my colleagues used to either skip their lunch or used to order fast food such as burgers and so on.

This hurts health, relationship, and savings. Also, I have observed that in offices, people tend to lose their cool more often during lunchtime as they might have missed their meal. This inspired me to launch makemymeal.ae. We encourage responsible eating and want everyone to eat on time and eat a wholesome meal.

What would be the unique selling points of MakeMyMeal? What sets you apart from similar services already available on the market?
We encourage “responsible eating.” We are the first and only online tiffin service in the UAE. We offer subscription-based value meal plans to our clients. An average lunch is priced at AED 350 per month with delivery and packing included. This is a wholesome, portion controlled meal package comprising of protein, carbs, vegetables and so on.

There is enough scientific evidence available that by just eating on time with limited portion, 70% of health issues can be taken care of. We ensure that our clients get a healthy variety every day. One can easily save a minimum of AED 500 per month, just by avoiding impulse eating and by ordering monthly meal plans on makemymeal.ae. At the same time, we offer weekday business to restaurant partners and work with them in designing packages and market them on our platform.

Who is the target audience for such a platform?
A responsible eater who values life and saving. Our clients include doctors, IT professionals, banking professionals, and working couples.

What sort of new features do you plan to add to the platform in the future?
Our technology has evolved over the last three years and we keep adding new features continuously. We would continue to offer value in terms of variety, value, and consistency. We would keep adding features that encourage responsible eating.

Tell us about your CSR initiatives in the region?
We at makemymeal.ae believe in sharing life. We intend to deliver 1 million free meals to the needy in the UAE. We are working with the UAE Red Cresent and the UAE Food Bank on this initiative. We encourage each and everyone to participate in this initiative. One can donate as little as AED 70 and feed 5 people in need. 1 AED per meal is shared with UAE Red Cresent and we distribute with the help of UAE Food Bank. One can also volunteer through donations.