How To Serve Your Community By Investing in a Meals of Hope
Humble Beginnings in 2007
Hunger is one of the biggest crises of our time, and wanting to make an impact, Meals of Hope was founded in 2007 as a nonprofit by Steve Popper. After feeding millions of families in Naples, Florida and all across the country, Meals of Hope is now turning to the franchising model to make an even bigger impact, allowing franchisees the ability to make a difference in their communities.
Meals of Hope started out small, taking it one step at a time, with a simple mission of sending food to Haiti. Organizing an event that packed more than 135,000 meals with over 500 volunteers, Popper successfully organized and ran his first packing event. Soon after, he became aware of the extent to which hunger was impacting those in his very own community, and Popper knew he could make a difference.
As his meal packing model through Meals of Hope caught on, Popper left his job in the lumber industry and devoted himself full time to the cause. Seeing the incredible need to help people suffering from hunger and food insecurity, and just how well the Meals of Hope model was working, Popper decided the best way to grow the organization’s ability to tackle the crisis and expand across the country was to convert into a franchise model. Now, Meals of Hope has packed more than 80 million meals and formed 15 food pantries that feed an estimated 10,000 people a week.
Meal Packing Is One Of The Best Ways To Serve Your Community
The Meals of Hope business model is incredibly simple to operate with a dedicated customer base, making it a perfect way to bring family and friends together for a common cause. Meals of Hope’s parent company is a certified nonprofit, with our franchise system focused on growing business while seeking to end hunger. Our business model is predicated on our franchise owners being stalwarts in their community for helping the most vulnerable people. Franchisees build relationships with charity groups, businesses, universities, and places of worship who sign on to sponsor meal packing events, supplying the volunteers and venue. Meals of Hope takes it from there, providing all the ingredients needed for the meals and handling shipping logistics.
With our events packing anywhere from 10,000 meals to more than 1 million, the opportunity is incredible to not only make a healthy and lucrative livelihood for yourself and your family, but also give back to the community and help tackle one of the biggest humanitarian issues of our time. You can be as creative as you want: in June 2022, for instance, a Meals of Hope franchisee brought popular WWE wrestler Sheamus to promote a meal packing event in Nashville, TN.
“This is a business that’s all about building relationships,” Steve says. “Our franchise owners are going to be spending their time networking in their communities and forming relationships that are based on a shared commitment to give back. We’ve discovered that there’s no shortage of organizations, charities, businesses, houses of worship, and colleges and universities who want to host an event. When they hear the impact that one event can have, it becomes a common sense decision to host it. The more events our franchise owners can organize, the more successful they become in business – and more importantly, the more people they’re able to help.”
We Keep The Costs Low, And Profit Potential High
Meals of Hope is truly a unique and special opportunity. We help fight hunger and bolster communities, while at the same time, providing a lucrative career for franchisees. That’s why we are committed to keeping Meals of Hope one of the most affordable mission-driven franchise opportunities out there. The total cost to start a Meals of Hope franchise runs as low as $61,050 to $71,925. This includes the franchise fee ($40,000) and the cost of the first event ($11,500). We’ve taken great care to make sure ongoing costs of operation remain low: no office space is required, you can start without employees, and there’s no need to carry inventory. Indeed, the only ongoing expense is money spent on branding and marketing to get your name out in the community, and the costs associated with networking for potential partners.
Meals of Hope also puts its franchisees in the best position to have the strongest growth potential. Case in point: we keep territories large, protected and exclusive. Right now, Meals of Hope only has 64 territories available across the U.S., each with about four million people over a large geographic area. This is strategic – vast territories allow franchise owners more room and potential to build relationships with various organizations and hold as many meal packing events as possible.
“Now is the time to invest in a Meals of Hope franchise,” says Jack Day, Director of Franchise Development. “We only have 64 territories available, which means, once they’re gone, they’re gone. This is an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs who are ready to leverage their leadership skills, their relationship building skills, and desire to help make the place where they live more food secure. This is a vitally important issue, and we’ve proven that this business model can have an enormous impact. We’re excited to partner with entrepreneurs who share our commitment to fighting the hunger crisis.”
Invest In A Meals of Hope Franchise Today!
Meals of Hope is proof that you don’t have to sacrifice community service and serving the greater good to run a successful business. That’s truly what makes the Meals of Hope opportunity so special: aspiring entrepreneurs who have dreams of being their own boss can do so, making a great livelihood, while also giving back to their community and finding meaning in what they do day in and day out.
To learn more, read What Is a Meals of Hope Franchise? If you’re ready to start a conversation about investing in a Meals of Hope Franchise, please fill out our form here. We look forward to hearing from you!
