Here at Forward Fooding, we recognise diversity in diet, from intolerances, preferences, to religion. Everyone should have access to delicious food, without compromise. We spoke to Dining, a company who’re bringing Halal ready meals  delivery straight to your door — the ultimate solution to hectic living in the 21st century.

In under twenty words, how would you summarise your company?

A convenient, online delivery service providing chilled, 100% halal ready-meals directly to your door.

Where did you get the idea from?

The idea was very much brought about by my own frustrations — due to job commitments, and general life getting hectic, there were days when I’d want an easy meal to just heat up when I got home. I was finding, however, there were no Halal options for me to keep in my fridge or freezer. Relying on takeaways, the lifestyle wasn’t sustainable and so I decided to solve my own problem…and so Dining was born!

Now, we have a team of experienced chefs, who only use the freshest of ingredients to prepare our meals; customers order conveniently online for the week ahead, then store their products in the refrigerator to eat as required. All you have to do is decide which meal, warm it up and enjoy! One less thing to worry about in your busy life.

What types of meals do you do?

Dining aims to bring the flavours of the world to your dinner table, including Italian, Arabic, European and Indian, using the freshest of ingredients. It’s really important that all cuisines are as authentic as possible, and so our chefs have a really diverse range of skills to instil that cultural significance behind every meal. From peri peri, to fajitas, to paneer, to Bolognese — whatever your tastes fancy!

Was it a difficult process establishing your company?

I think the main difficulty I’ve had is not trying to convince people to love the brand and the idea, but simply identifying my target market and interacting with them. It’s always the case with start-ups initially, but narrowing down and catering to my audience is a process I’m working on every day. I have found that targeted events and various groups I have been working with are helping me to continually define a better target market. Beside this, everyone like to have a delicious ready meal delivery!

If you could go back to the beginning, what would you tell yourself?

I think, even though I knew, understood, and expected it to be hard work, I was never prepared to even be able to comprehend how much I was taking on — I do think that it’s worth it though, 100%. I truly believe in my idea just as much as the day I started, and so I’d tell myself to keep going and keep believing. I would also tell myself to not get caught up in talking, planning and perfecting. The only way to learn and perfect is through trial and error, and there’s nothing wrong with failing. There are no perfect start-up stories, and it’s all about what you learn from the lows that help you gain higher highs in this business.

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What’s an ethos of your company you’d never want to lose?

I will always strive to keep the quality and taste I believe in, and that’s something which will never change. 

What would you want the future of your company to look like?

To be known as the company to come to when looking for quality tasty halal meals; there’s definitely a gap in the market currently, so my aim is to spread awareness and have a consumer group who love the products and the company as much as I do.

How can we get some of your meals for ourselves?

Check us out on our website www.diningeating.com — you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram @diningeating! Ready meals delivery to our home!

If you’d like to see what connections Forward Fooding could offer your start-up, feel free to get in touch with us at info@forwardfooding.com! You can also add your company to our FMCG trends section on our platform to get free visibility within our corporate and investors’ network here.

Forward Fooding is the world’s first collaborative platform for FoodTech Data Intelligence and Corporate Startup Collaboration. If you enjoyed this article, follow, clap or share and join us in our Food Revolution at ForwardFooding.com

This article has been written by Mathilde Redshaw