Mission first!

Mission-first

A few years ago, I experienced a radical change in my productivity that made me swear to good diets.?

Here’s how it started. I got into accidents from falling asleep while driving which was a reflection of how bad my night sleep was - what medical professionals call sleep apnea. My productivity per hour was dropping and of course, my weight was going off the charts. Thankfully, I paid attention, got good advice and was lucky to get my body under control. Many people don’t get the chance.?

Early in the week, my friend got admitted to a hospital in Lagos, a top one. Breakfast was bread and butter. The only option for lunch was rice. If she wanted fruits or a salad, she’d need to order for them (get them in a few hours or ready in time for the next day!). I wasn’t surprised. I have seen this so many times it breaks my heart. I don’t think it is intentional but I wonder if health is the goal if hospitals can’t at least offer better diets. If anyone should be mission-first, doctors should be? Right?

The hospital is an extreme example. My thinking is that adults and children can make healthy diets what they should be, normal diets - a lifestyle, the norm, not the special. Offices, schools, gyms and other public places should have a wide array of non-boring, creative, as natural as possible nutritious food at affordable non-cut-throat or “only birthdays” prices.?

When I started working with a team in 2018 to build Mealimeter, profit was the last thing on the list. Today, it still is the last thing on the list. It is mission, customer service, innovation and then profits and we are in no hurry to get to number 4 if the first 3 things are not fixed. Mealimeter is simply a vending solution for nutritious food options.

We work with several nutritious food businesses who provide?several meal options (not limited to fruits or vegetables) based on their expertise. Our vending kiosks are stocked daily so customers get fresh meals. What we have done is to take the first steps towards our mission

1. Mealimeter vending kiosks offer meals (nutritious traditional and continental, not limited to vegetables only) at the same price as you’d get them in partner stores. That removes delivery fees from the equation, our first step towards making meals more affordable. There are many more steps lined up.
2. Mealimeter works with and is adding many more vendors. This means meals don’t have to be boring and users can literally eat from multiple vendors in the same location - the real food court experience brought to you, anywhere.
3. Meals are available from as early as 6:30am and all you need is a mobile phone to access them. No long queues, no problems with change, no arguments with an unhappy attendant or multiple calls from delivery people for directions - a really enjoyable and hitch-free experience.
4. We bring our experience from running Gingerbox here. Gingerbox has been providing fruits and nutritious snacks to companies like Google, MTN and Mckinsey & Co. over the last 7 years

We’re made our first set of Mealimeter kiosks free for offices, apartment buildings and hospitals in Lagos and have a few more available. As I have tried to say earlier, the mission is the focus. I’m hoping you can experience what I have experienced - great sleep and more productivity without popping drugs or any special attention. I want to gently ask HR leaders, corporate services leaders, wellness leaders and doctors to join us on this mission. If we value people, we’ll need to help them make the right decisions by first making nutritious food as available as junk food is. If you do not have a cafeteria in your your office at the moment, Mealimeter is a no-brainer!

If you’ve read this, tag your HR leader or doctor. There are many other ways to solve this problem but if you like our solution at Mealimeter, you can request one for free here: Mealimeter: Bringing and supplying healthy meals to offices, hospitals and apartments

You can see a video about Mealimeter here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/kunlejinadu_employeewellness-taghr-activity-6727569947758731264-cHr0

To your health and success.

Notes

1. Everyone complains about how boring healthy meals are. First misconception is that healthy diets only include raw greens and fruits. I can write a long article about this but my formula is simple - get some fruits & vegetables in my body daily as a replacement for one of my meals. If you eat 3 times a day, this is a lot easier. If you eat only 2 times, you can make it an addition with control obviously. A healthy diet is really a good balance of all food classes depending on your body type.
2. When people find articles about diets, they think it isn’t important. Sometimes, the over-commercialization of good diets affects people’s relationship with them too. At other times, the recommended diets and restrictions are so impossible, people just give up. Via our mobile experience, we will make this process as enjoyable and valuable as possible.
3. We’re using technology to make nutritious food more accessible but we’re doing it in collaboration with people - nutritionists, dieticians and small food businesses. If you’d like to join us on this journey, please email [email protected].
4. I have led Mealimeter as a Product-focused leader and we’re looking to stay true to our mission by bringing on a nutrition-focused leader. If you’re a nutritionist or dietician with some business and culinary experience, there might be a good CEO/COO role for you. Email me at [email protected]. Come run the show!
5. Mealimeter has been approved by top brands already. We're resuming as offices return to work. Mealimeter is made with love by the founders of Gingerbox (served brands like Mckinsey, Google, Lafarge and MTN for 7 years).
6. We have a Mealimeter for small teams who have no cafeteria too. Email us at [email protected]