Lilly’s Little Lunchbox is set to scale up to become a major player in the ready-made meals sector

From its founder’s kitchen less than four years ago a company is set to scale up, aiming to be one of the big players in the sector.

Chris Heydon and Cara Aprile are taking Lilly's Little Lunchbox Australia wide. Picture David Clark

A business that had its beginnings in its founder’s Brisbane kitchen less than four years ago is aiming for its dietitian-designed lunchbox meals to be available Australia wide and scale up enough to rival the top companies in the highly competitive $2bn ready-made meals sector.

Since launching in September 2021 Lilly’s Little Lunchbox has provided 40,000 to 50,000 meals across Queensland, NSW, Victoria, and the ACT, with most of its growth in the last 12 months.

The brainchild of dietitian Cara Aprile, the business is aiming for rapid growth in the next year having moved from Virginia to larger premises in Eagle Farm.

Inspired by her then 18-month-old daughter Lilly, Ms Aprile came up with the concept in 2014 and while juggling full time work researched and planned Lilly’s Little Lunchbox.

Simply, the meals are delivered fresh and incorporate the five core food groups. They are in a bento-style ready-to-eat lunchbox which has a main meal, fruit, veggie sticks and a little treat, with a fridge life of a week.

Lilly's Little Lunchbox is on a growth trajectory.

Mr Aprile’s husband and director of business development Chris Heydon said Lilly’s Little Lunchbox was unqiue and was “born out of a genuine need”.

And he believes that from humble beginnings, the sky is the limit.

“A year ago we were operating out of a garage and doing 600 orders a week and now we are doing over 1000 and advancing to 2000,” he said.

“We’re receiving inquiries from international airlines and also retail now. No deals done but we are scaling up and we want to be doing about 50,000 each week very soon.

“We’re scaling up and increasing staff from six to 16.”

Mr Heydon, who has a background in media and marketing, said they were using the bigger players in the ready-made meals sector as their inspiration.

Major players like Nestle Australia with its Lean Cuisine brand, Kraft Heinz Company, McCain Foods and Lite n’ Easy continue to grow while Coles and Woolworths are ramping up their exposure.

There is also a wave of consolidation and investment in the sector.

Brisbane-based YouFoodz – which started in 2012 – was acquired by global player HelloFresh for about $120m in 2021. A year earlier Quadrant Private Equity invested more than $100m into the then seven-year-old My Muscle Chef, in a deal valuing the company over $200m.

Last year alt-meat leader v2food expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of local ready-meal brands Soulara and MACROS, which will help broaden its distribution reach beyond in-person channels via its proprietary D2C e-commerce platform.

“YouFoodz and My Muscle Chef have a 1.3 to 1.4 times annual revenue and we hope to be at a scale where we would be valued on those metrics in five to seven years time. Our aim is to be in that same valuation range of $100m and $200m,” Mr Heydon said.

“We’re the only business making meals like this for kids and our competition is local mums making similar meals. The other businesses are purely targeting busy adults with microwavable meals.

“But off the back of our success, adults are now also eating our meals.”

Brisbane-based Lilly's Little Lunchbox delivery.

Ms Aprile said looking back, Lilly’s Little Lunchbox was a “typical start-up” having begun in her Brisbane home.

“I started it as a way to give parents convenience and some time back in their day,” she said.

“But also given my background as a dietitian the concept was also to instil healthy eating habits in our next generation. It’s important to teach kids about what makes a healthy meal.

“It’s about making sure they are getting the nutrition they need for concentration in the classroom.”

The company received a kickstart in 2023 capital raining raised about $650,000 which went towards setting up operations in Queensland.

Another capital raising this year raised $350,000 to expand from a focus solely on children to seniors and National Disability Insurance Scheme meals around Australia.

Ms Aprile said over the past 12 months they have widened their focus.

“We deliver to customers homes but we also cater for daycare, sporting events, corporate events and retailers as well,” she said.

“We’re not locked into home delivery. We’ve just been NDIS registered which means anyone in the NDIS is eligible to claim 70 per cent back off the total cost of our meals.

“We want to be everywhere and get the business to the point where it will be attractive to a venture capitalist or a bigger business coming and buying us.”

Ms Aprile has earned a number accolades, including a 40 Under 40 award and the Food Innovation Award.

She said Lilly’s Little Lunchbox will continue to innovate.

“We do have something in the works but I’m sworn to secrecy. There’s been a lot of research and development happening behind the scenes,” Ms Aprile said.

“We are always developing product and we will be broadening our product range and it might be slightly different to what we are currently doing.”