Exploring Life & Business with Mitch Case of More Than A Meal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitch Case.

Mitch, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up in a conservative home, I was taught getting a corporate job, climbing the ladder, and being financially successful, would create happiness in his life. After nine years of being an engineer, I dropped that mindset and established my own definition of success and happiness.

In the middle of the pandemic, I decided to go all-in on building More Than A Meal, while giving myself the protected time to be more present with three young kids and a loving wife. Even though the fear, the anxiety, and the sleepless nights are still present, I have never been happier and more clear about the future. I now spend my time helping individuals and businesses strengthen their most valued relationships, while also encouraging others to find the thing that truly makes them thrive!

More Than A Meal started back in 2017 (at the time known as MommyMeals), with the purpose of serving simple fresh ingredients to the doors of individuals that had recently had a baby. Through listening to what the market was telling us, we made a transition at the beginning of the pandemic to switch from a B2C company to a B2B sales and marketing strategy to help organizations engage with their employees and clients.

With our firstborn son, my wife and I experienced a difficult time with the pregnancy and birth (pre-eclampsia and a C-Section). Although the immediate help and meals were extremely helpful, it was simple meals 2 or 3 months out, after I had returned to work. My wife simply had pre-chopped ingredients that she threw in a crockpot and when I got home, she had told me, “I really felt like I helped out today”. It was a turning point for us, so we looked to use our gifts to serve other people in this way.

In September of 2020, I chose to leave my job as an engineer and go all-in on building More Than A Meal to continue to help and serve organizations with simple meal kits to the doors of their employees and clients.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? Never. Never expected it to be smooth. I continue to go back to a video from Steve Harvey that talks about having to “Jump”. He talks about at some point you have to “jump” if you want to do something with your life. He also informs you that before that parachute opens up, you’re going to bounce off the side of the cliff and scrape up your knees a few times, but with persistency and a vision, eventually, that parachute will open.

Challenges have been around trying to create perfection, instead of just getting it done. In startup mode, I’ve learned (and am still learning) that you have to get it out there to test it and make changes. Imagine finally making the perfect widget or service that nobody wants/needs.

The other challenge has been self-doubt. The entrepreneurial road is lonely, no matter how many people you have cheered you on. It’s so easy to go from the highest high and lowest low in a 24 hour (shoot, a 1 hour period!) period. Learning to accept those moments and celebrate the wins has been crucial to our continued momentum.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about More Than A Meal?
Simply put, we help organizations strengthen their most valued relationships through simple and personalized meal kits delivered to the doors of their employees and clients.

(Offerings) We provide two different avenues for organizations between employee/client engagement and employee benefits.

Engagement:
– We provide a pre-purchased number of meals as a virtual inventory, allowing organizations to send a meal on an as-needed basis. To personalize our meals, we are able to include personalized notes, videos, and/or branded items internal to the delivered meal kit. We see companies using our meals for births, promotions, showing appreciation for working overtime, referrals, new homes, etc. Different from the typical gift card approach, we are able to keep the buyer informed of when meals are delivered.

Employee Benefits:
– A new addition to More Than A Meal is the employee benefits program (as of October 2021). We are working closely with organizations that want to provide a meal a week or a meal a month to an employee while often times helping subsidize the cost of each meal to an employee that chooses to opt into the benefits program. From CPA firms, Pediatricians, and Insurance offices, we are continuing to build our client base with businesses that are ready to invest in their employees.

How does it work?
– Engagement: As a buyer you fill out our quick form to release a meal that requires a little bit of personal information, allowing us to reach out to the recipient to schedule the meal when it works for them, what meal they would like, as well as confirming the delivery address.
– Benefits: Employees opt into the weekly or monthly program their employer agreed to. At that point, we provide a weekly or monthly meal to that employee to help relieve dinner time at home by bringing the family together which is shown to help reduce stress and anxiety, while promoting healthy eating and showing general appreciation/engagement with their employees.

Give Back (Most Proud):
With each meal purchased we donate 5% to 4 of our nonprofit give-back partners (Literacy KC, Exceeds Expectations, The Single Mom KC, and Growing Futures).

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
Without risk, there is no reward. Ultimately when I made the decision to leave my previous employer and go all-in on my business, was the moment I was ready to believe/bet on myself.

We face risks every day. From getting in a car or a plane, we weigh the risk and choose to take our “chances”. Unfortunately, I hear, oftentimes, that people are stuck in jobs they don’t like because the pay is too good. I get it. I was there, but I always encourage people (because I was encouraged to do the same) to find what it is that they enjoy doing (even if it didn’t pay you a dime) and what things they are good at because if you can find where those two things merge, you are going to have a lot of fun doing the things you do. Maybe…just maybe you can even learn how to generate revenue doing that thing.

Someone else once told me to look back on fears I had about making a decision and to look back to see if any of those fears came true after making that decision. It’s very likely that those fears never happened. In my mind, I was thinking when leaving my high-paying job…”I might lose my house or car, rack of debt, embarrass myself by failing, etc.” Fortunately, in 15 months, NONE of those things have happened.

Pricing:

• Price per serving ranges from $6 to $8 (plus shipping)

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@morethanamealco.com
• Website: www.morethanamealco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morethanamealco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morethanamealco
• Other: www.morethanamealco.com/cookbook-landing-page

Image Credits
Meyer Music and MediaAlly