Startup gives college students healthy, affordable dining options
Catering biz Happy Hippy Veg also delivers meals to private clients and caters private parties.
JUSTINE CARMINE, 28, of Mayfair, owns Happy Hippy Veg, a vegetarian catering service she launched last summer. She rents space at the Dorrance Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises in West Philadelphia, where she stores her food, does prep work and cooks. A Tacony native, she's a graduate of Marywood University in Scranton.
Q: How'd you come up with the idea?
A: It stemmed from a yoga teacher-training weekend, and I'd been a vegetarian and love to bake and make healthy food that tastes good. I brought in treats for our group, and a friend and yoga classmate came to me with the idea of a vegan food truck. My friend has a full-time job and I took on Happy Hippy myself and pivoted from food truck in August 2015 when I was presented an opportunity with Drexel University's food provider, Sodexo, to sell my prepackaged food through them.
Q: The start-up money?
A: I was accepted in Blackstone LaunchPad, an entrepreneurial program at Temple that's helping me network and scale up the business.
Q: What's the biz do?
A: It's wholesale catering and distribution. There's a cafeteria on the bottom floor of the Urban Eatery at Drexel, and they were looking for vegan and gluten-free meals for students. There was no vegan option before I came. I deliver prepackaged meals to Drexel on Tuesdays and Fridays. That includes a wrap and a salad or a noodle bowl, a piece of fruit and a drink. I have a display case there and promote my brand. I also have private clients, five families in Northeast Philadelphia, and offer them the same meals. I also cater for private parties.
Q: The biz model?
A: I provide 80 meals a week to Drexel through my arrangement with Sodexo. The meals cost $5 to $6 and students can use their meal swipe. I get about $3 to $4 per meal. The private clients go on my website and pick and choose what they want for the week and I deliver them meals for the full week. They cost about $10, which includes a smoothie and a meal. Catering for parties is on a per-person basis. For a recent holiday party for 40, with about five appetizers, I charged $300 for everything, including setup, breakdown and cleanup. I pay $70 a month rent for a freezer and dry storage and $30 an hour to use the kitchen for prep and cooking.
Q: The value prop?
A: I want to show people that you can have delicious food that's also healthy and affordable. My mission statement is "fun, fresh and fuel."
Q: How big a biz?
A: Right now, it's just me. I had about $5,000 in gross revenues for five months in 2015.
Q: What's next?
A: I want to get my products into Temple. Sodexo is also the food provider there.
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