Chakula Nyumbani: A Month On

When we started Chakula Nyumbani as a food delivery business a month ago, our goal was simple: to make Cheptoo’s life a bit simpler. Every weekday, Cheptoo gets back to her house late in the evening after a busy day. Because of the many competing priorities for her time as well as general exhaustion, making a meal is likely to take a back seat on her list. Our mission, therefore, was to reduce the number of days Cheptoo reaches for tea and bread as her evening meal to, instead, a delicious and nutritious meal delivered right to her doorstep. Our secondary goal was more discreet: 95% of Kenyans do not consume the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. How could we play a part in addressing this issue? One month later, it's time for us to reflect on our experience building Chakula Nyumbani.

First, the numbers. 

Chakula Nyumbani kicked off operations on 10th June 2024. On the menu that day was stir-fired beef, managu, and ugali. As all our meals were to be accompanied by a fruit, our customers also received an unexpected banana. We served 10 plates on that day. Since then, we have gone ahead to deliver a total of 64 plates, equivalent to an average of 3 customers a day. Our expenses, however, significantly outnumber our sales: KES 41,268 vs KES 24,875. 

Beef and fish comprise our most expensive inputs, followed by tomatoes, onions, and carrots. For our marketing, we have printed and distributed fliers for KES 3,250. 

Beef	7530
Fish	5150
Tomatoes, onions, carrots	4785
Flier printouts	3250

What have we learnt so far? 

From the start, we committed to keeping the ceiling of our meals at KES 600. From our menu, fish and beef are our most expensive food items, understandably so given these are also our two most expensive inputs. We are still on the lookout for where we can source inputs cheaply to maximize our cost-revenue spread while not compromising on the quality of food. Even so, one of the biggest hindrances to this search is our present lack of bargaining power: with about 16 customers in a week, we cannot yet approach a major supplier of, for instance, beef, to enjoy significant cost savings. Beyond supplies, scaling could present production and logistical issues should we achieve high growth in client numbers. We do not operate off a commercial kitchen and we make our deliveries by foot around Ruaka. As such, growth, while considerably great, could quickly max out our capacity. We look forward to this problem, however. 

Among the reasons for the low consumption of fruits and vegetables in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), Kenya included, are that the food items are both unavailable and relatively expensive compared to starchy staples. However, in an area such as Ruaka, which is bordered by rich agricultural lands and lies near various farmers’ markets, availability is not an issue. When it comes to the affordability of fruits and vegetables, we spent KES 980 on fruits and KES 1,220 on vegetables (Managu, skuma wiki, cabbage, lettuce, and spinach), equivalent to 2.4% and 2.96% of our total expenses, respectively. This cost is relatively negligible compared to the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables. 

Pollution from single-use plastics accounts for over 50% of the plastics found in landfills. The food supply industry is heavily incentivized to use single-use plastics: they are cheap, readily available, and have no cleaning overheads. As a way to reduce our environmental footprint, however, we are experimenting with returnable plastic food containers - a customer receives food in a reusable plastic container which we then pick when we deliver their next meal. While this is a sound idea, we have noted teething problems. For instance, should a customer not return, or take long to make their next order, it is costly to deliver food to them in such a container. Additionally, keeping track of who has which and how many containers is another issue. 

Hello, KamiLimu.

90% of our customers are members or are affiliated with members of KamiLimu. We are grateful to you - for buying our foods and spreading the word about us.  

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As we move forward, our goal is to improve operational efficiency, expand our customer base, and continue providing delicious, nutritious meals. We've learned valuable lessons about cost management and the challenges of scaling our operations. The costs of beef and fish highlight the need for better supplier negotiations, which will become feasible as our customer base grows. Additionally, while our experiment with reusable containers has environmental benefits, it presents logistical challenges that we are committed to overcoming. Our focus on affordability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables is a core part of our mission, and we've shown that with careful planning, these nutritious foods can be integrated into our meals cost-effectively. We are excited about the future and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.