Why ask a meal-prep company about its refrigerated storage and transport?
Because the cold chain is the business. Prepared meals that sit too warm for too long become a risk to customers and to your reputation, and failing equipment can empty the fridges overnight. The answer also tells you what repairs or replacements might fall to you.
A meal-prep company sells food that has to stay cold from the kitchen to a customer’s kitchen. That makes refrigeration, packing and delivery central to the business, not side details. Ask how many fridges and freezers there are, how old they are, who services them, and what happens when one breaks on a weekend. Ask whether temperatures are logged and who looks at the log.
Then follow the food out the door. Ask how meals are packed, what keeps them cold in transit, who drives, and whether the vehicles are owned, leased or driven by staff in their own cars. Ask what happens when a delivery is late or a customer is not home. Ask to see how complaints about spoiled or warm meals were handled in the past.
Equipment is also part of the purchase. Ask for service records and invoices, and ask your accountant or an equipment appraiser how the units should be treated in the deal. Never assume that the units listed as included will work as well after the sale as on the day you visit. Ask also whether the seller has ever lost a batch to a breakdown, and what that cost them.
Key takeaways
- Ask who services the fridges and what happens when one fails on a weekend.
- Follow a meal from the kitchen to the doorstep and note every handover.
- Request service records and complaint history about spoiled or warm food.
- Ask whether a past breakdown cost the company a batch of meals.
Related reading
12 pages on the same subject, grouped by topic.
Buying
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Due diligence
Selling
Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
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