How to start a meal prep business in the US (2026 guide)

To start a meal prep business in the US, you'll need a licensed commercial kitchen (a home kitchen generally can't be used for perishable meals), a food permit, safe cooling and date-marking routines, correct labels, and a weekly ordering cut-off. Two rules catch new meal preppers out. If you print calories and macros on your labels or website, FDA's small-business exemption from nutrition labeling no longer applies. And if you sell auto-renewing subscriptions, state laws such as California's automatic renewal law set strict consent and cancellation rules.

Not legal advice. Rules depend on your state, county and what you cook. Check with your health department, and with USDA FSIS or your state meat inspection program if you sell meat or poultry beyond direct retail. Figures were read on the sources' own pages on October 20, 2026.

Step 1: Pick your meal prep model

A weekly menu with an order cut-off is the simplest start: you know exactly what to cook.

Step 2: Cost your meals and write a plan

Cost each meal per portion: protein, carbs, vegetables, sauce, container and label. Then add labor, kitchen rent and delivery. The recipe cost calculator and menu price calculator do the per-portion math; our food cost percentage guide explains the targets.

Step 3: Register the business

Set up the business before you rent a kitchen, because the kitchen and permit office will ask for your details.

• Choose a structure (sole proprietorship or LLC).
• Get an EIN from the IRS online, free.
• Check sales tax with your state; prepared meals are often taxable.
• Open a business bank account.

Step 4: Find a licensed kitchen

Meal prep means cooked, chilled meals, which need temperature control for safety (the FDA Food Code calls these TCS foods). Cottage food laws generally exclude TCS foods, so you'll usually need a licensed commercial kitchen. Options:

• a shared commercial kitchen rented by the hour or month;
• a restaurant's kitchen in quiet hours, under an arrangement your health department accepts;
• your own kitchen once volume justifies it.

California's microenterprise home kitchens can sell home-cooked meals where a county opts in, but they're limited to 30 meals a day and 90 a week, which is small for meal prep. See how to start a home food business.

Step 5: Get your permit and food safety plan

Your health department permits the business and kitchen. Under the FDA Food Code model:

• apply at least 30 calendar days before you start;
• have a certified food protection manager in charge, unless the department rates you low risk;
• keep a written employee illness policy (new in the 2026 Food Code, released September 17, 2026).

Meal prep lives or dies by cooling and dating:

Plan your delivery so meals stay at 41°F or below until the customer gets them: insulated bags, ice packs and short routes.

Step 6: Check the meat and poultry rules

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspects meat and poultry products, but its rules exempt operations "traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores and restaurants" when you sell in normal retail quantities to consumers. Cooking meals for your own customers usually fits that exemption.

The limits matter if you grow into wholesale. A retail store under FSIS rules must make at least 75% of its meat sales (by dollar value) to household consumers, and sales to other buyers are capped each year. If you plan to supply gyms, cafés or stores, ask FSIS or your state meat inspection program before you start.

Step 7: Label your meals, and be careful with macros

Packaged food needs a label with the common name, ingredients in descending order by weight, net quantity, your business name and address, and the major allergens. The FDA lists nine: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Add a use-by date for date-marked meals. The free food label maker has a US mode with the nine allergens.

Nutrition Facts: FDA exempts small retailers from nutrition labeling (annual gross sales of up to $500,000, or food sales to consumers of up to $50,000), and also exempts food delivered ready to eat to homes or offices. Each exemption only holds if the food bears no nutrition claims or other nutrition information on the label, in labeling or in advertising. Meal preppers often list calories, protein, carbs and fat, and that's nutrition information. Once you show it, you have to follow FDA's nutrition labeling rules, so get your numbers analyzed properly rather than guessed.

Large chains have separate rules: FDA's menu labeling rule covers restaurants and similar businesses with 20 or more locations. See FDA menu labeling requirements.

Step 8: Set up subscriptions legally (if you offer them)

Auto-renewing meal plans are regulated by state law.

• California's automatic renewal law, strengthened from July 1, 2025, requires a customer's express affirmative consent to the auto-renewal terms; if they signed up online, they must be able to cancel online without obstruction; they get an annual reminder; and a price increase needs notice 7 to 30 days before it takes effect, according to the California Attorney General.
• Federal rule: the FTC's amended Negative Option Rule ("click-to-cancel") was vacated in full by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025. Other federal and state consumer protection laws still apply, so make cancellation simple wherever you sell.

A simpler start is no subscription at all: customers order each week by your cut-off.

Step 9: Take weekly orders and deliver

Set a weekly cut-off, publish the menu, and deliver or offer pickup on fixed days.

How Menuthere helps. Menuthere's Free plan gives you an ordering page and QR codes with 0% commission and 50 orders a month, with allergens and calories tagged on each meal; make sure any calories you show are accurate (see Step 7). Lite (US$17 a month) adds unlimited orders, card payments through your own Stripe account and scheduled orders. With dishes that need notice, you can set how far ahead meals must be ordered and which days they're made, so orders arrive by your cut-off for your cooking day. Menuthere doesn't run subscriptions or recurring billing: customers place each order themselves. Pro (US$39 a month) adds your own drivers with the rider app and live tracking. See our tiffin service website page for a similar weekly model.

Open next week's menu for orders. with 0% commission.

Create your free ordering page

Worked example: costing one chicken and rice meal

Ingredient prices are the BLS U.S. city average retail prices for September 2026; the portion sizes, vegetables, sauce and container costs are assumptions.

Priced at $11.50, food and packaging are 31.4% of the price. Now the scale: 40 customers ordering 5 meals a week at $11.50 is $2,300 a week, or $119,600 a year. That's well under FDA's $500,000 small-retailer threshold, but if your labels list macros, the exemption doesn't apply anyway.

Your meal prep start-up checklist

• Model chosen (weekly cut-off, subscription, wholesale)
• Meals costed per portion and priced
• Structure, EIN, sales tax checked, bank account
• Licensed kitchen agreement
• Food permit; certified food protection manager; employee illness policy
• Cooling and date-marking logs
• FSIS position checked if you'll sell meat or poultry beyond direct retail
• Labels with allergens and use-by dates; nutrition data analyzed if you show macros
• Subscription terms checked against your state's auto-renewal law (or no auto-renewal)
• Ordering page with a weekly cut-off and delivery days

Related guides

Planning a full sit-down or counter-service restaurant? Read our step-by-step guide on how to open a restaurant, with a 6-month timeline. You may also want to read how to start a catering business and how to start a home food business.