Meal delivery surges amid coronavirus pandemic

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Alexis Christoforous discuss the ready-made meal delivery space amid the coronavirus outbreak with Fresh N' Lean Co-CEO Laureen Asseo.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: But on to more positive story-- while the coronavirus has caused many companies to shutter over the past few months, opportunity has come knocking to the meal delivery space. Joining us now is Fresh n' Lean Co-CEO Laureen Asseo. Laureen, good to see you. Thanks for taking some time this morning.

The meal delivery space has got its moment in the sun right now. Tough situation, no doubt about it, but what are you seeing in your business?

LAUREEN ASSEO: Absolutely. I mean, for us, meal delivery is the safest option right now, with everything going on with COVID-19. We're seeing a huge rise in demand, not only on the retail level, but a lot so on the home delivery side. So things have been really great.

We're super grateful to be able to be considered an essential business during this time, and not only, of course, benefiting the business, but also helping people in need as well.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Laureen, for people who are not familiar with Fresh n' Lean, how big is the company? How many employees? And how many states across the country can we find you? Because I'm curious just to hear from you what sales have been like, you know, pre-pandemic versus right now.

LAUREEN ASSEO: Of course. Yes, so we have about 400 employees. We manufacture currently 250,000 meals on a weekly basis. Our menu changes weekly. But we're consistently manufacturing.

And we ship nationwide. So you can receive our meals no matter where you are in the country where you get packages from FedEx and UPS.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So what have sales been like? I mean, have you seen a jump-- 10%, 20% jump? Just give us a feel for what business has been like during this pandemic for you.

LAUREEN ASSEO: So it was very interesting, because our business is seasonal to a certain extent. Right, so when we exit off of the holiday seasons, New Year's is always a really big peak for us. So what was interesting with COVID is you kind of have it coming after the new year, which people are already in it. You know, they want those New Year's resolutions, and all those things.

So we had a really great growth coming into January. And then with COVID happening, the demand is still there. So with that, we've seen about a 15% growth. And we're hoping that it levels. Or, of course, we want it to grow. But it's kind of in that area right now.

BRIAN SOZZI: Laureen, is this the type of situation-- all we've heard from the meal delivery industry the past five years is that it can't make money. But is this the type of situation where you see an influx of volume, and your business turns profitable?

LAUREEN ASSEO: So, you know, it's actually funny that you say that. And you're correct, there is a huge stigma around the meal delivery space about it not being profitable. Luckily for us and my company, we actually have been profitable. And I think-- and for a few years now.

And I think the biggest thing of that is the way that we run our operations. We've never taken any outside capital. We have grown 100% organically, just very like boots to the ground, from a garage operation to what we are now.

And I think a lot of that is through lean manufacturing, being very, very flexible, and never over doing-- or doing more than what is needed. And so with that, even with what we're going through right now, we see very steady growth year-over-year. And we do anticipate to continue seeing that growth month-over-month and year-over-year, even with this happening right now.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right, let's leave it there. Laureen Asseo, Fresh n' Lean Co-CEO. Good luck, and we'll talk you soon.

LAUREEN ASSEO: Thank you so much.