A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DELIVERY
Breakfast Lunch & Deener Sets Sights on Expansion
AThunder Bay-based prepared meal business says that while it’s had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s looking to offer its services beyond the Thunder Bay area and throughout Northwestern Ontario.
Nadine Kelly, the founder and
CEO of Breakfast Lunch & Deener, says although they’ve had to make some adjustments during the past several months, the way the business was originally set up—online ordering, a closed-to-the-public production facility—generally meant “the skeleton of the business didn’t have to change.” Heightened concerns around infection and business closures, however, did mean Kelly and her staff started delivering all orders instead of relying on pick-up hubs around town. Now, not only has their ordering service been expanded to other local producers, but Kelly is looking to take the business regional.
“We realized that we were set up really well,” she says of the early days of the pandemic. “Overall, we didn’t have a lot of the same hurdles to overcome as the traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant.”
Kelly’s business takes meal orders, prepares them, then arranges to have those pre-made meals delivered to the customer. She started the business in 2016, with the aim of “making healthy foods more easily accessible to tons of different demographics.” That e-commerce ordering platform now also includes things like locally produced maple syrup, almond milk, baked goods, and other products from businesses that normally would rely on venues like farmers’ markets. “We realized that we had the platform and distribution well set up to kind of let other businesses ride the wave with us,” Kelly says. Kelly doesn’t take a cut of the other business’ price for the service; rather, any extra costs for handling and e-commerce fees are absorbed by the customer.
Further to that, Kelly says she’s looking to start offering and delivering her prepared meals outside of the Thunder Bay area, while increasing her presence in the city. Currently, she serves Thunder Bay and surrounding rural communities and as far east as Nipigon, with the goal of going as far west as the Manitoba border, south to the Canada-U.S. border, east to Marathon or Wawa, and north to remote First Nations.
“I would like to be that household name for healthy meals in the region,” she says.