Meal Prep Business Certification

I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

I’ve been running a Meal Prep Business for the last 15 years. Our Prepared Meal Delivery Business is called Magic Meals Home Delivery, and we have no certification. In this article, I’ll explain why.

But first, can you get Meal Prep Certification, and should you?

At least one organization offers something similar to Meal Prep Certification, but it is not legally required. There is a Food Safety Certification that you should get from your state, and at least one legally required “certification” but it’s not called a “Meal Prep Certification”.

Now let’s dig into more details.

Is There Specifically A Food Prep Certification?

No, there is no specific Food Prep Certification.

And, to be clear, there is no legal requirement for something called a Food Prep Certification.

The Spencer Institute, which offers a number of coaching certifications, offers a course called “Personal Fitness Chef Certification – Meal Prep Business-in-a-Box”.

I’ve had lots of people ask me about this course, and I’ll tell you what I told each of them…

I’ve never taken this course. I have no idea what they teach. I have no idea about the value of the course versus its cost. However, from personal experience, I do know that customers don’t care about certification as much as trainers want you to believe.

On our journey to our own Meal Prep Business, we paid nearly two thousand bucks (a fortune for us back then) for a personal chef certification. For years we put that logo on all of our marketing material, and never got a single comment about it.

On the other hand, personal testimonials from people in our community was what moved people to trust us.

In hind-site, we would have been better off spending our money to give our service away to well-known people in our community to earn their public testimonies.

Now, I do believe that quality training and courses from people who have been-there-and-done-that are a good investment in yourself and your business.

Training and real-life experience are much more valuable than a certification, in my mind.

If you have personal experience with a Meal Prep Business Training Course, please contact me and tell me about it.

If you’d like to see me and Angela develop a training course sharing what we’ve learned about starting and growing a Meal Prep & Delivery Business, please let me know!

What Certification Should You Get Before Starting A Food Prep Business?

If you are going to start a Food Prep Delivery Business, the #1 thing that you must be concerned about is food safety.

We never want to get anyone sick. Never. Never. Never.

You must be a food safety expert.

There are countless courses online offering food safety training and certification, but the best known is ServSafe.

Most states partner with ServSafe, including our home state of Kansas.

In the state of Kansas, the partnership is broad:

“ServSafe® Food Protection Mangager Certification. KDA encourages food establishments to have managers obtain Food Protection Manager Certification. One such certification is ServSafe® Manager Certification, available from the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association .”

K-State Research & Extension

I strongly encourage the owner of every food business that prepares food for others to earn ServSafe Certification and exercise the knowledge gained there in every moment of running your food business.

You can learn more about ServSafe Certification by visiting the ServSafe.com Site Here.

To learn if your state offers special food safety certification, you should Google “STATE ServSafe” where STATE is replaced by the name of your own state.

Commercial Licensed Kitchen For Your Food Prep & Delivery Business

To run a food business that provides cooked food to the public, with a few exceptions, you will need a state-licensed kitchen that meets the food safety standards set by the federal government and your state.

A Licenced Kitchen is a kind of certification, in that it certifies to the public that your food preparation facility (your kitchen) has passed inspection by a representative of the state government who is trained in the food regulations of your state.

This is the kind of certification that people really care about.

With our home-based Meal Prep Business, we tell our story to every potential client.

In telling that story, we always say that we run Magic Meals Home Delivery out of the State Licensed Kitchen in our home in the country. Then we mention that our kitchen is inspected under the same regulations that restaurants work under and by the same inspectors who regulate every restaurant in our county and state.

We tell potential and existing customers that they can see the results of kitchen inspections online, and give them the link because we take food safety very seriously.

That’s a powerful certification that not only keeps our customers healthy but keeps them committed to our food business.

Are There Other Certifications You Need To Start A Meal Prep Business In Your Location?

Honestly, I don’t know.

I can tell you everything you need to know about my location, but every location is different.

You will have to do your own research to find out what other certifications or licenses you need to start a meal prep business in your location. I go through a number of things to think about in my article Can You Start a Meal Prep Business From Your Home?

~Stacey