Dishefs LLC | Application Preview
Dishefs LLC is seeking government grants to facilitate the expansion of its sales and marketing initiatives, enhance customer discovery efforts, and support ongoing product development. The funding will also address costs associated with cloud infrastructure, legal services, and attendance at industry events, which are essential for a swift market entry and subsequent growth in job opportunities, particularly in the Charlotte area.
The grant funds will be allocated towards completing crucial product features and refining application testing, followed by a phased rollout to select customers. Focus will shift to acquiring and retaining paying customers after the product launch. Dishefs plans to build a strategic sales and marketing team dedicated to targeted outreach and partnerships, thereby driving revenue growth.
The business has successfully completed a legal feasibility assessment and engaged with 51 stakeholders from the restaurant and nonprofit sectors, revealing a strong readiness to adopt the platform. Its digital assets, including a landing page and mobile applications, are in the final stages of testing. The company aims to extend its reach beyond North Carolina, offering services for businesses, consumers, and nonprofits.
With a substantial potential market in kitchen rentals and personal chef services across the U.S. totaling over $157 billion, Dishefs is positioned to address various challenges within this sector. The company differentiates itself by offering a streamlined platform for kitchen rentals, surplus food donations, and chef services—each with distinct advantages over existing competitors, including lower upfront investment requirements and integrated service offerings.
Dishefs plans to generate income through commission structures for B2B and B2C transactions while supporting nonprofits without charge. This innovative model, along with patented technology for efficient grocery and food transactions, positions Dishefs as a competitive player with a comprehensive solution to multiple industry problems.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 201350773
Location: Waxhaw, NC, United States
Length of Operation: 1-5
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: Less than $100k
Annual Gross Expense: Less than $100k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
This grant is crucial to Dishefs as it will enable us to expand our sales and marketing team, conduct continued customer discovery, attend trade shows, complete remaining development work, cloud infrastructure cost, cloud services, paid API subscriptions, legal advice and improve our product through local and national events, ultimately allowing us to enter the market quickly. This grant will help for our next round of financing and promote job growth in Charlotte and surroundings. We plan to complete followings with the help of grants funds: Complete features learned through Customer Discovery program and complete end to end application testing, Product rollout/Go live with limited customers Onboarding & retention of paid customers: Once the product is live, the focus should shift to acquiring paying customers and ensuring they are satisfied with the service. This could involve creating onboarding materials to help customers get started, as well as retention strategies to encourage them to continue using the service. Strategic sales and marketing team: Building a sales and marketing team will be crucial to expanding the customer base and generating revenue. This team can focus on creating targeted campaigns to reach potential customers, as well as establishing partnerships with related businesses and influencers to increase visibility.
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Business Plan
We completed legal feasibility and participated in UNC Charlotte's Launch Customer Discovery Program, receiving feedback from 51 restaurants, chefs, and nonprofits. Almost 80% of customers interviewed are ready to onboard. The Dishefs landing page website, full end to end web, iOS and android apps are developed and currently undergoing final testing before market launch. Our sales and marketing scripts are ready and we are tuning up strategy as we are learning each day. We've performed additional research on different use cases learned through the customer discovery program & partnered with leading companies for background verification and insurance, and developed a streamlined onboarding process. We're looking forward to accelerate and expand beyond NC to other states and offer variety of services to help support our B2B, B2C and B2NonProfit users. As per Year 2021, the potential market size for kitchen rentals in the USA is $30 billion, with North Carolina and South Carolina accounting for $0.8 billion and $0.4 billion respectively. The potential market size for personal chefs in the USA is $3 billion, with North Carolina and South Carolina accounting for $0.1 billion and $0.5 billion respectively. The aggregated total for restaurant food and grocery sales in the USA is $124 billion, with North Carolina and South Carolina accounting for $2.3 billion and $1.1 billion respectively. Overall, we estimate the potential market size for North Carolina and South Carolina to be between $5 billion and $8 billion, while the total potential market size across the USA could be more than $157 billion. Dishefs offers a comprehensive solution that solves multiple problems at once, unlike other online marketplaces that focus on solving only one problem. Dishefs will earn revenue through commissions and fees from both businesses and customers. For B2B transactions, we will charge a 20-25% commission plus onboarding fees. For B2C transactions, we will also charge a 20-25% commission, and customers will pay a fixed or percentage-based service fee based on their total order amount. Non-profits will not be charged any fees for using our platform, but merchants who have subscribed for Food Donation will need to pay delivery and pickup fees. These fees can be paid as flat fees, weekly, per pickup, or through a monthly subscription with 3, 6, or 12-month contracts. In exchange for donating surplus food to nonprofits, these merchants will receive an auto-generated donation receipt as soon as the non-profit receives the donated food. This will relieve the merchants of any liability associated with the donated food.
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Self Identified Competition
1. Kitchen Rental -> Dishefs is a one-of-a-kind solution that enables individuals or businesses to rent kitchens during underutilized hours without any significant upfront investment. Unlike its closest competitors like CloudKitchen, Ghost Kitchens, and Commercial Kitchens, which require an upfront investment of $50k-$200k and long-term contracts, Dishefs offers low or no upfront investment and greater flexibility. Currently, chefs, food trucks, and restaurants are using kitchen rental in an ad-hoc manner with no apps or software in place. With Dishefs, users can conveniently rent a kitchen space and access various tools and resources through an easy-to-use platform. 2. Food Donation -> Dishefs differentiates itself from competitors like Re-Plate and Goodr by integrating existing restaurants' menus for easier tracking of surplus food donations. Other competitors focus solely on logistical issues of delivering surplus food to nonprofits. 3. Chef Marketplace -> Chef Marketplace competitors like WoodSpoon and DishDivvy have limitations, such as limited availability and no support for kitchen rental in states where chefs must cook and sell food in approved kitchens. However, Dishefs bridges the gap between chefs and kitchens by providing a unique solution that offers rental kitchens during off or underutilized hours with low or no upfront investment. Additionally, Dishefs will offer full-service pick-up and delivery options through native Gofers and third-party delivery providers, providing a seamless end-to-end experience for approved kitchen owners, customers and chefs. 4. Delivery, Pickup -> Dishefs stands out from competitors like UberEats, DoorDash, and ChowNow by offering only Delivery and Pick up but not Dine-In. Dishefs make a difference by offering Dine-In, in addition to delivery and pickup services. Dishefs is a platform that combines B2B, B2C, and B2Non-Profit models to provide kitchen owners extra income from their underutilized kitchens. Chefs can access pre-approved kitchens and start their journey through a virtual marketplace. Dishefs allows restaurants and grocery owners to sell dishes for a low commission fee while encouraging businesses to donate surplus edible food to local nonprofits and people in need through proprietary patented solutions. Dishefs Gofers use modern technology to purchase groceries and prepared foods on behalf of customers, completing transactions through a mobile app and blockchain-based systems. Dishefs has conducted a legal feasibility analysis and has patented the concept. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11488219B2/en?oq=US11488219
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