37. Délidoor

Revenue: $2.61m
Founders: Jacques Lepron, Mathieu Thomas
Head office: Botany, NSW
Year founded: 2020
Employees: 11
Industry: Manufacturing
Website: delidoor.com.au

How Délidoor started

The idea behind Délidoor was more a moment of inspiration than years of research and development. Mathieu Thomas and Jacques Lepron, both grappling with the challenges of lockdown in 2020, saw an opportunity in spite of overwhelming adversity. Every business needs to solve a problem, and the pair homed in on one universal challenge facing busy families: how to prepare nutritious and delicious meals every day, in the midst of a global pandemic.

Their vision was clear: to provide a wide selection of fully prepared, preservative-free and mouth watering meals, delivered directly to Australian homes. They weren’t just providing a service – they were fulfilling a critical need.

Growth

Délidoor’s initial model of providing fresh meals resulted in unsustainable food waste and inflated costs. So it pivoted to frozen meals in order to reduce waste and optimise expenses. But an ingrained preference for fresh food created resistance to accepting frozen meals as a high-quality option.

Instead of launching an expensive customer-education campaign, Délidoor focused on producing exceptional frozen meals and recruited Chef Sebastien, a frozen food specialist, to elevate product quality and counter the negative perception. Fast forward to today, and Délidoor cooks and delivers more than 25,000 meals a month – from Queensland all the way down to South Australia.

Where to next

Délidoor’s vision for the future extends beyond just meal delivery. It is developing an AI food concierge to customise meals based on individual household needs and schedules.

It is also planning to roll out a single-serve range, which will expand its reach to new markets like the home-care segment and attract young professionals seeking convenient, nutritious meals.

Délidoor was shortlisted for the Rising Star Award at The Smart50 Awards 2023.