MunchQuick, a new startup that offers the hungry downtown D.C. lunch crowd an alternative to takeout, launched at the end of June and has been selling out every day, according to cofounder Asad Yusupov. The company, which delivers healthy meals on demand in 20 minutes or less, will be launching a mobile app in a week.
MunchQuick offers two entrees, one side and one dessert daily. "We cook our food in bulk in the morning," Yusupov says. "We put the food in incubators in compact cars [during lunch hours]. Our drivers go into the city and are no more than two minutes away when an order comes in." The company can deliver orders quickly, as it currently serves limited zip codes within the District (20004-20006, 20036 and 20052, or K Street from 10th to 22nd down to F Street). There are no delivery fees and currently, all meals sell for the promotional price of $6 each.
Yusupov is reporting a week-over-week growth rate of 22 percent, with a customer return rate of 89 percent. "We count returning customers as those who place three or more orders," he explains. "The other 11 percent just aren't there yet."
The food is prepared out of a commercial kitchen in Alexandria. "We're looking for a commercial kitchen space in D.C.," Yusupov says. "[The reason our meal price] is so low is because we don't have a brick-and-mortar restaurant."
Yusupov, a serial entrepreneur, cofounded MunchQuick with Muslima Yusupova, his mother and chief culinary officer. The delivery model for the company came from Leith Jaber, a recent American University grad who started a hookah delivery-on-demand business and now serves as COO. Yusupov is looking for marketing support.
While the company is waiting for the right time to expand, Yusupov says that MunchQuick will probably grow into the Georgetown area next. "We also want to open up for dinner and for late nights, especially for college campuses. We want to provide healthy, affordable food."
"D.C. is a phenomenal place for a business like this," he says. "The D.C. population is highest during working hours."