Meal Prep Business

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Meal Prep Business? (In 2025)

Pat Walls

•

Updated: April 15th, 2025

Looking to start a meal prep business?

But curious about:

how much it costs to start a meal prep business?
what are the typical meal prep business startup costs?
or the actual cost of starting meal prep businesses?

Well, we have the data to prove it, supported by real meal prep businesses and how much they actually cost to start.

Let's go over it.

Table of Contents

Software Expenses
Office Space Expenses
Inventory Expenses
Website Costs
Advertising & Marketing Costs
More Business Ideas Like This

Learn more about starting a meal prep business:

Where to start?

-> Pros and cons of a meal prep business

Need inspiration?

-> Other meal prep business success stories
-> Marketing ideas for a meal prep business
-> Meal prep business slogans
-> Meal prep business names

Other resources

-> Profitability of a meal prep business
-> Meal prep business tips

expand for more

Software Expenses

Your meal prep business needs software to run efficiently!

Why spend money on software? Because it can help you save time and automate certain parts of the business, so you can focus on the most important matters. Software and technology can help you grow your business, and save you from expensive personnel costs.

Cost	Required?	Min Cost	Max Cost
File Hosting Service	Recommended	$0	$299
Email marketing tool	Recommended	$0	$100
Accounting & Invoicing Software	Recommended	$0	$50
Project Management Software	Recommended	$0	$25
Internal Communication Tool	Recommended	$0	$20
Design Programs & Software	Optional	$0	$50
IT Support ➜	Optional	$150	$2,000
Social Media Management Tools	Optional	$0	$50
Payroll Software	Optional	$0	$200

Office Space Expenses

It will be your call to determine if you need office space. It is not a requirement but may be necessary as your meal prep business grows.

Cost	Required?	Min Cost	Max Cost
Rent ➜	Optional	$0	$5,750
Utility Costs For Office Space ➜	Optional	$0	$1,150
WiFi & Internet ➜	Optional	$0	$100

Inventory Expenses

If you sell a physical good, you'll likely have to start with some inventory.

Cost	Required?	Min Cost	Max Cost
Upfront Costs For Inventory	Optional	$300	$5,000
Inventory Storage	Optional	$0	$5,000
Package Design ➜	Optional	$50	$3,000
Shrinkage	Optional	$0	$1,000
Distribution costs	Optional	$0	$750

Website Costs

Every business should have a website, and it's worth spending a bit of money to set it up right.

Cost	Required?	Min Cost	Max Cost
Domain Name ➜	Required	$12	$200
Business Email Hosting Service ➜	Recommended	$1	$15

Advertising & Marketing Costs

Cost	Required?	Min Cost	Max Cost
Customer Research & Surveys	Optional	$0	$300
Affiliate Marketing Commission & Fees	Optional	$0	$250
Influencer Marketing	Optional	$0	$750
Press	Optional	$0	$500
Google Ads	Optional	$0	$300
Facebook & Instagram Ads	Optional	$0	$350