- Weekly ramp
- 80 → 300
- Meals
- 9,872
- Revenue
- $121,431
- Margin
- –11.9%
Interactive planning model
Profit is a function of repeat volume.
Use the real proposal assumptions to see how meals per week, vegetarian mix, food cost and fixed overhead change the monthly run-rate.
Run the numbers
Meal-prep monthly run-rate calculator
Start with weekly volume. The advanced assumptions are available when the owner and chef have real cost cards.
Default500meals / week
Advanced assumptions
The model uses 4.33 weeks per month and charges paid batch labor directly to each meal.
Profitable run-rate
Monthly line EBITDAbefore depreciation, financing, tax and startup capital
Monthly revenue
Contribution / meal
Break-even
Annualized run-rate
100break-even1,200 meals / week
The honest fusion test
Fusion creates value only when it creates new demand.
The central Indo-Mex contribution is slightly better than the existing line. That advantage disappears when fusion merely replaces a meal the customer already planned to buy.
Uses $4.55 fusion contribution, $4.09 existing contribution and a $500 monthly module expense.
Incremental monthly fusion valueCannibalization warning
At this mix, fusion mostly shifts existing sales and does not cover its monthly module expense.
Per-meal truth
33.3% contribution after paid production labor
Before direct production labor, blended product margin is about 55.7%. The more conservative contribution margin is what should drive decisions.
Blended contribution$4.09per meal
| Per meal | Vegetarian | Meat | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Realized price | $11.10 | $13.10 | $12.30 |
| Ingredients | $2.55 | $4.05 | $3.45 |
| Packaging | $0.85 | $0.85 | $0.85 |
| Direct production labor | $2.75 | $2.75 | $2.75 |
| Processing | $0.36 | $0.43 | $0.40 |
| Waste / refunds | $0.28 | $0.33 | $0.31 |
| Utilities / sanitation | $0.20 | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Net delivery subsidy | $0.25 | $0.25 | $0.25 |
| Total variable cost | $7.24 | $8.86 | $8.21 |
| Contribution | $3.86 | $4.24 | $4.09 |
| Contribution margin | 34.8% | 32.4% | 33.3% |
Year-one range
The downside case loses money. The upside requires real scale.
These are planning scenarios, not forecasts. The base case ramps from 150 to 700 meals per week.
- Weekly ramp
- 150 → 700
- Meals
- 22,083
- Revenue
- $271,621
- Margin
- 9.5%
- Weekly ramp
- 200 → 1,700
- Meals
- 46,764
- Revenue
- $575,197
- Margin
- 18.0%
Capital released in stages
Authorize a $30K pilot cap—not a $120K leap.
Standard and growth figures are cumulative business cases. They are not immediate spending recommendations.
Stage 1Pilot
$16K–$37K
County consultation, cooling test, recipes and labels, smallwares, packaging, ordering page, opening inventory and working capital.
Recommend maximum $30K
Stage 2Standard
$50K–$120K
Release only after four weeks above 300 meals, ≥$3.50 contribution, ≥60% retention and zero temperature failures.
Stage 3Growth
$200K–$500K
Release only after sustained 900+ meals per week or signed contracts that justify dedicated space and equipment.
Small operating misses have large consequences.
- Every additional production minute at $24/hour costs $0.40 per meal.
- Two extra minutes move standard break-even from about 319 to about 397 meals/week.
- A 25% marketplace commission on a $12.30 meal is about $3.08—most of the contribution.