South East food delivery platform Cook My Grub embarking on next stage of growth

Cook My Grub, the Maidenhead-based home-cooked food delivery platform is targeting a 300% increase in turnover by 2023 and wants to increase its customers to 50,000 by the summer of 2024.

The business was founded in the same year as the pandemic by entrepreneurs Shabbir Mookhtiar and Dinesh Patil and also has plans to grow the number of chefs on the platform to 500 from 100 by the end of next year.

The service, which has more than doubled its team in the last two years, has evolved from same day, hot food delivery to a “heat and eat” model now available across the UK.

READ MORE: Maidenhead's Cook my Grub offers chefs route out of hospitality pandemic misery after £750K fundraise

Co-founder Shabbir Mookhtiar enrolled on Help to Grow: Management - a 12-week course, 90% funded by the government and delivered by Small Business Charter affiliated business schools.

The course is designed to support business leaders and senior managers to increase resilience, innovation and growth.

Mookhtiar said: "Towards the backend of 2022 we saw consumers becoming more cautious with their spending habits. Pressure from rising energy costs and increasing inflation caused demand for our services to taper. However, we’ve seen a huge rebound in sales throughout the first few months of the year with active users on the platform continuing to rise.

"With Cook My Grub still very early in its lifecycle, we needed to develop the tools to scale quickly but also spend time innovating our business model to differentiate ourselves and stay competitive in the UK food service market.

"Enrolling in the Help to Grow: Management Course has allowed me to focus on the ins and outs of the business to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as possible.

"I’ve had the opportunity to build valuable relationships with tutors and alumni through shared experiences which has allowed us to navigate our next stage of growth with more confidence."

Michael Hayman MBE, chair of Small Business Charter, added: "The Help to Grow: Management Course was designed to help small businesses boost their performance and build resilience so they could emerge stronger from the challenges of the pandemic and the tough market conditions that followed.

"Since the course's inception, our goal has been to showcase how investing in leadership teams can transform the way businesses operate to create more rounded, future-proofed industries."

He added: "Cook My Grub’s disruptive approach has allowed them to take the market by storm. Through the support of Help to Grow: Management, the business and its management team have gained the tools to sustain its position within the sector.

"We look forward to seeing the business continue to innovate and take advantage of its growth opportunities in the future."