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The Fresh Diet Delivery Startup Success Of Zalmi Duchman – From AdWords to $16 Million

I’m always partial to entrepreneur success stories coming out of Florida–my home state. And, if the business is involved with improving quality of life, then double bonus. This is one such story of Zalmi Duchman and his successful food delivery service that’s changing the way Miami (and beyond) eats.

 

 

Let’s start from the beginning…

 

 

From Selling Candy to Gourmet Meals

Zalmi was born in Brooklyn and raised in Miami Beach. He attended an Orthodox Jewish high school in LA where he met his future business partner Yosef Schwartz.

 

 

Throughout school Zalmi sold anything he could, whether it was candy or leading fundraisers. This is when he also really became fascinated with the Internet. After high school, he moved back to New York and worked for an Internet startup that ultimately bombed. He then went to work for a condo development company in LA, and transferred to Miami soon after.

 

But his real estate job was not fulfilling his desire to work with technology, not to mention the real estate boom at that time was on its way out. He had a plan, and he called his partner Yosef.

 

Cooking up a healthy idea

Zalmi had heard of a food delivery service in LA that sparked the idea of creating a similar business in Miami, and make it Kosher for the Jewish community there (though, now the menu is non-Kosher). When he Google searched similar services in Miami he couldn’t find any, and realized he needed to be the first.

 

It was 2005. He was 25, with a 4-year-old and a pregnant wife. Another example of how timing doesn’t usually work out with these things. But, you just have to do it.

 

Fresh Diet Delivery is Served

For the first few months, Zalmi worked two jobs to support his family. He would get off of work at 5pm when his wife was just starting to prepare the meals for his clients. He would do his deliveries between midnight and 6am, catch a few hours of sleep and go to his day job.

 

He convinced Yosef, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef, to move to Miami and take on the venture with him. Thankfully, he agreed.

 

 

His first clients came from Google AdWords. He thanks AdWords for getting his business off the ground. By the end of the first month he had 13 customers and over $13,000 in sales, and by the end of the year the total was $300,000 in sales and 30-50 clients a day. The second year saw that number jump to $1.2 million in revenue.

 

Now, as an innovator in the diet meal delivery world, The Fresh Diet serves over 3,000 clients in multiple cities, and brings in over $16 million in revenue. Oh, the sweet smell of Zalmi’s gourmet kitchens and startup success.

 

 

I’m a big fan of cooking, but three healthy, gourmet meals delivered straight to your doorstep sounds like a delicious idea. If you want to join the Fresh Diet’s happy, healthy clientele, check out the site to find your own food delivery plan, and inspiration, of course.

 

Photo Credits

YouTube.com / CordonBleu.edu / TheFreshDiet.com

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