I wanted to let everyone know that I am starting a service atwww.mealsintheraw.com

and that I have used some recipes from Gone Raw on some of my items, tweaking them some but not totally. The recipes that I have used are based on what my personal chef customers have enjoyed, and I am still working on some of them to tweak them more. I did not know if I really needed to change them a whole lot in order to sell the finished product, but if anyone has an issue with me using any of their recipes, please let me know. For example, the fettucine alfredo with the peas and peppers is so great the way it is, that I didn’t want to change it. In fact, most of my products so far are pretty intact as to how I found them, but the changes may be subtle. There are so many excellent chefs on here that are always making things better! It is hard to keep up!

congrats on your new business I hope it goes really well for you! I checked out your website there were a few glitches on it, maybe coz I am using a Mac? mainly on the shopping page, I couldn’t get to see all the items just the cocao cereal. Just thought you’d like to know. I’ve been doing raw delivery here in the UK for 5 months now, I love it!! People appreciate the food so much and it helps them stay raw, so that just makes me smile all day ;)

Thanks Zoe! I hear that your food is fabulous! Thanks so much for checking out my site. I am not sure if a Mac would make a difference, because I am not too familiar with them. I do know that the pics can take awhile to load. If the little icon is spinning, I guess it is still loading. Thanks for letting me know. They do come up for me, just kind of slowly! HA! I am glad your business is going so well! That is awesome!!

Yeah, hardly anything loaded for me either. One item for each section and the pictures never showed up and I have fast internet connection too. It just keeps clocking even after 5 minutes.

If I were you, I would change it to be a little less “complex”. It is a pretty complex site – tech-wise. When there are too many things that need to be loaded, it makes the site slower. Esp. frustrating if you are browsing. I would save the stuff that needs to the “loaded” to just if people click on the pictures to get a bigger image. I honestly would not wait that long for things to load and would probably give up on the site (I am a programmer so slow internet anything gets on my nerves – and it really isn’t necessary in todays high tech age – you can definately have lightening speed!)

Are you the site programmer? If not, talk to the person who programmed it and tell them that images are not loading for people. Even when I try to click on other boxes to get up the other products, it doesn’t even change. (like for snacks, all that will come up are the veggie chips and the picture of the veggie chips doesn’t load)

Another thing is that I wasn’t really sure where to see the rest of the items. So I click on Order here to if there were more products but it wasn’t really obvious at first. I would have a products or menu tab at the bottom.

Otherwise, I do like the moving fruit and the herbal thing in the upper right hand corner – I am just wondering if all the stuff is slowing down the rest of your site. :)

Thanks so much for the feedback. I am going through a site to have it done, so I will contact them and see if they can help to figure this out. The categories of food are up above, maybe not obvious enough. Maybe if I change my storefront that would work better.
Thanks again for bringing this to my attention!

I have fixed my website! All of the pictures are loading much faster and I have added new goodies. There are new photos of before and after raw in my gallery as well. I would love to hear feedback on any aspect of it. Please spread the word to anyone that you know who wants to be raw but is strapped for time or equipment, it is a great option! Thanks everyone!

I have added some new things, and soon I will be offering a selection of raw supplies and books, accessories to go with your yummy raw meals. I would also like feedback if there is anything special that you would like me to carry, and I will try to get it!
Thanks!
Lisa

By the way, I use biodegradable packaging for my products from EcoProducts, here in Boulder. I don’t believe the other services do that. It is made from corn and sugar cane.

wow sounds amazing!

Hi Lisa Marie,
I had another look at your site. I have some ideas for you…

How about putting how much a portion is. Like the amount of soup you would get how much it is in weight and how many portions it would make etc..

Also it would be good to see a list of ingredients for each item.

The postage costs seem a bit high, is that because of the containers/dry ice you are using?

How is it going so far?
Cool about the packaging…

Another source of income for you may be selling to retial outlets, juice bars etc, have you thought about that?

You can email me privately if you like glowing@purelyraw.com

I was going to recommend advertising locally – as some non raw foodists might be interested, and they would save money on shipping. I will soon be purchasing foods from a raw service, but it’s local – so I don’t have to spend money on shipping. that’s a huge incentive for me to buy from them.

Thanks for the suggestions, very helpful. I have started putting portions sizes and ingredients on some of them, just haven’t gotten to all of them yet. I will be working on that this coming week. The shipping is high, it is the same for Rawvolution and Pure to Go, the other 2 services that I know of that ship perishable raw meals. It is the FedEx that is so high, and that is even with my 15% business discount. The dry ice itself and the boxes and styrofoam are actually quite inexpensive, as are my containers since I have to buy them in huge quantities. I am going to approach Whole Foods here with some cheesecakes and such,
Zoe, I did actually email you on another matter earlier!

Winona, thanks for the suggestions. I am going to change my personal chef banner on my car to say Meals in the Raw with my website. That ought to get the people around here thinking! You are lucky to have a service near you. I would love to be able to have enough locals ordering from me eventually, hopefully things will catch on soon! I am going to a raw potluck on Saturday too and hope to promote myself a bit there. The marketing takes as long as the food prep!
Thanks again for your feedback! It is very helpful!

UR IN COLORADO!!! OMG how exciting. I live in CO, about half an hour from Aurora. I cant wait to order from you or maybe have a coaching lesson. You dont happen to need any employees do you? lol, just a thought. Congrats on the new business and I hope it flourishes!

Zoe and LisaMarie
What is the best way to figure out how to price your food that you are selling to other people? I have a few interested friends and clients, but am stuck on the best way to “price” everything so that I’m not working for hours upon hours and getting $10 :)

Love the website…the only thing I’d love to know (was mentioned earlier, so I’m just sort of agreeing with that thought/suggestion) would be exactly what size and amounts you are offering for all foods. I saw that you do have it on some of them. For example, the cinnamon rolls, what size are they? It’d just be a question I’d have before ordering. Looks like a really fun adventure! :)

LisaMarie – i’m advertising for the lady who does the raw foods service. we’re posting fliers around town on everyone’s doors… i’ll let you know how successful this strategy is.

Wonderful buisness concept, but your site is too techie for me. The scrolling fruits would be less distracting if they faded in and out rather than slid. The constant animation of everything made it very hard to stay focused on what you’re really about. I understand why your shipping is the cost it is, but it’s a turn off. I think your biggest success could be a smaller delivery fee for locals. Good luck! Such a cool idea!

what a great idea! good luck in your ventures, I’m sure you will do great! if you want to get into the Whole Foods stores there I suggest you contact their regional offices as any new products go through regional coordinators. go to their website for all the info if you don’t already have it.
www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Did you have to certify your kitchen with the state? Or what did you have to do to be able to do food for the public consumption?

As far as using recipes from cookbooks, I don’t see why you’d have to get permission on that one? Don’t restaurants sometimes use recipes from other cookbooks? Good question. Using recipes from somebody’s website might be another issue though, if you had not bought their cookbook…interested in the answer to that one. Although, if somebody asked and you said it was from abc’s site, would that be a bad thing? I guess getting permission from the person would be a good idea. I have seen a lot of the same recipe on websites and in cookbooks…are there any original recipes? :)

Wow, lots of responses Gotta go refill my Mate for this one (I know, not raw)!!

Okay, here goes.

Lyndi, I emailed you and am going to email you again about hiring :)

rawmama, pricing, you need to figure out what your cost of ingredients is. I have a wholesale account with Natural Zing, and I will make batches as large as I need at a time. You need to really coordinate your time so you are always soaking, dehydrating, etc, have all the equipment, and chop your veggies in a food processor! I do have to use a commercial kitchen which I rent time from here. You can check in to that, or a local church kitchen also. They may ask you to carry insurance, mine is through the American Personal Chef Association and is about 45 a month.I think all recipes are tweaked from other things, and it is good that we can share. I have 2 to post shortly, pear butter, and five-spice ice cream! as soon as i get a moment!

Winona, are you referring to Cynthia? or who? Yes, let me know, I have found flyers don’t work for me, but that is because they get thrown away, it seems. If it works, I may try again!

Krystale, I know the website is crazy, I went through a service with templates, and don’t have much choice on the flash. The shipping is expensive, esp. for a new business, but I do ship nonperishables by USPS priority, which I did for my vegan baked goods, and it gets there fast. Much cheaper option.

hkittykitty, thanks for the tip. I know that each region does carry local products, here it is Boulder, so I will locate them and see what I need to do. Imagine raw cheesecakes at Whole Foods!

germin8, yep, the website is busy, but it was the only raw food on there. I will look into it more. I would love to change the Order Here if I could, but it is a bargain website, have to go with the template. I will ask them if there is a way to change it though. You could try using your browser arrow to go back maybe. I will try that and see if it works. I will be filling in more on the quantities, etc. I think Matt gets his shipping cheaper somehow, either he has been with FedEx awhile and can charge less, for me, his shipping is $45, so you must live closer to him. His cheapest is $25 I think, Cynthia’s was 65 for shipping and that is to everyone, I break mine down in to regions in order to save some for those who live closer. Trying to pass my savings on to the customer. I build my container and box fees in to the food cost, so I am pretty low as I can go.I would love to have a restaurant here, lots of overhead to start!

Keep the suggestions coming! I hope to tailor this to meet needs as closely as I can. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, it is a blessing to have this feedback!
Lisa

Great site Lisa Marie!
How far away do you deliver?

Hi Sarm,
Thanks, so glad you like it!
The entire US right now, where are you located?

Rawmama -re pricing: it is normal to have 25% cost and the rest profit in the food retail business. Obviously the bigger the amount of food you make the lower the costs and the lower price you can charge. Make sure you put in ALL your costs – advertising, packaging,labour etc.

Hi LisaMarie, I just told someone about your site and they’re thinking of buying! They said you should have a recipe book. :o) ...well, maybe for those recipes that are yours…

I just realized you sell dehydrated food that ships cheaper. Nice. Has your website changed… well, it doesn’t matter… I just noticed it looks different on my MAC/Safari at home.

Germin8, thanks so much! I have an order as of this morning, maybe it is her! I am so excited! I am not sure about doing a recipe book, but maybe when I have developed more of my own recipes (I have a few, not enough for a book!) but I will start posting them here on GR. My focus is to help others by making and selling for those who want to heal, etc. through raw but are strapped for time. I do have dry goods that go USPS priority mail. I did change my site to load faster, hopefully more user-friendly! Thanks again! I think I may start a referral program. Meaning if you refer a customer to me and they order, you will get a discount or perhaps a free item! I will post when I start that!

Zoe, thanks again, I did email the company in the UK for suggestions. Maybe they can direct me to the appropriate company here in the US. I am blessed to have such support! ((((hugs!)))

OMFG!!!!!!!! Your products are of restaurant quality!!! I MUST order from you!!!!! Btw, the website is so cool.

Thank you so much, RawKidChef, for the complements! I have been a chef for a long time so I guess I just have carried over that into the raw food prep. Thanks to all the wonderful people on this site who work so hard to improve on recipes too. I will be posting 3 recipes soon. I came up with a truly crunchy crust for cheesecake! Oh yeah!!!!!

Zoe, what does “25% cost” mean? I am starting to do my hair products like I talked about in another thread but I am trying to figure out how much to charge. I don’t want to be all greedy and charge too much but I don’t want to lose any money either.

Does it mean that all the money to spend to produce your product that you should only lose out on 25% of it and make back 75%?

I really hate this side of the “business” stuff – all the money and legal stuff just confuses me to death.

LisaMarie – Your site is WAY better now, Everything loaded very nicely for me. In my tech opinion, you could probably lose some of the flashy stuff since it is a food site and not a tech site but it still looks very nice and the pictures are great! Thos cocoa krispies look good! Yum! :) I used to love the cooked version of those! I heard there is a raw food place opening up in Boulder some where – maybe you could sell your dessert and brekkie items there?

Thanks queenfluff! I do wish I could change the flash, but I had to go through a website builder to save cash, and that was the best they had that represented my product. Someday I will get a REAL website :) Actually, for the cost, I think it is not too bad. Glad you like the krispies, they are so good when the chocolate goes into the milk,just like the other crappy cereals, but WAY BETTER! There are always rumors that raw restaurants are opening here, we shall see…There are some pretty good potlucks here though! I would like to actually go to the regional office there in Boulder with some cheesecakes! Yum!

and I am pretty lost on the whole 25% thing too. I try to figure out my costs and it gives me a headache! So I try to be fair, but not cheap. I have seen a lot of difference in what is being charged!