Born out of necessity, U’ve Got Meal is helping people change their eating habits, one meal at a time

Over the past many years, the eating habits in the UAE have changed dramatically. Our diets have been influenced by all kinds of factors: by the technologies in our kitchens, by the modes of transport supplying our shops, by the media and the government and by trade and migration. The eating habits of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents would be completely unrecognisable to many of us today.

Our experiences of shopping and cooking have been transformed as have our attitudes towards health, table manners, ‘foreign’ foods, waste and choice. However, all that transformation has come at a price. Less exercise and more unhealthy diet will almost triple the obesity rates in the UAE in the next decade or so. However, that’s all set to change due to initiatives such as U’ve Got Meal, a meal delivery service that focusses on weight loss and well-being.

Necessity is the mother of invention
“U’ve Got Meal came to me through necessity,” explains Ajay D’Almeida, the Founder of U’ve Got Meal. “Two years ago, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol level and my doctor advised me to not only exercise a little, but to also change my eating habits considerably.  At that point of time, I was working for a company based in Karama, the food capital of Dubai. So, when lunch time came around I was exposed to a variety of food choices such as fried chicken, greasy burgers, Indian delights with an inch of oil floating at the top and so on.”

U’ve Got Meal bag

That’s when D’Almeida realized that though people loved snacking on these fast food items, there were also people who loved to eat healthy. However, those who wanted to eat healthy didn’t really have a choice when they went around searching for such restaurants that did offer a healthy menu. “So I started researching on options and at the same time, started working on my business plan and the numbers. I started putting things together in my mind and testing different ways of running the business model,” adds D’Almeida. “The idea was always to keep the investment as low as possible and hence I got involved into doing a lot of the initial work. Of course, friends chipped in with the initial work, too.”

Starting off
D’Almeida started work on U’ve Got Meal in mid-January 2013 and officially launched the company on April 2, 2013. According to him, the venture was entirely self-financed, though it took the collective effort of a lot of people to make it happen. To keep initial operating costs low, the staff strength has been kept to a minimum for now.  “People with ideas, people that a multi-skilled, people that are not afraid to even pick up a broom and sweep are probably the right way to go when dealing with a startup,” says D’Almeida.

Quinoa Pilaf Lunch

U’ve Got Meal currently has two partners – Ajay D’Almeida and Mitun De Sarkar. D’Almeida is a Commerce graduate from Bangalore and grew up in Doha, Qatar. He is passionate about music, football, and food. He has worked in marketing but for a variety of companies in the last 20 years. De Sarkar meanwhile is a dietician by profession, with over 12 years of experience in the field of weight management and providing health food. She is a Clinical Dietician certified by the Dubai Health Authority. De Sarkar takes care of the production of healthy meals and liaising with the company’s clients to make sure that they achieve their goals.

Mandarin Strawberry Salad

“We’ve just begun services for a little more than a month now and the responses have been pretty great so far,” adds D’Almeida. “Awareness is the most important aspect when it comes to getting people to change their lifestyle and eating habits. Our brand identity is built around our brand statement that says ‘Join the revolution.’ The revolution that we talk about in our social media campaigns is about the healthy revolution that’s sweeping the world.  A lot of people in Dubai are aware about healthy eating habits, but the message needs to be spread further.”

U’ve Got Meal is not about food
According to D’Almeida, it’s important to understand that U’ve Got Meal is not all about food. “Our USP is that it’s easy to be healthy and we’ve simplified the process to be healthy. We take care of everything by making it simpler – from getting a free analysis to home service for a blood test and web chats to get in touch with our dietician. We also want to focus on making sure that our customers attain their weight goals and health goals. We do this by monitoring our clients’ progress on a weekly basis and changes in the diets are made accordingly by Mitun, our dietician.”

Grilled Chicken Dinner

Currently, the company uses social media and PR in increasing brand awareness of the company and according to D’Almeida it is already delivering fantastic results. He says that leveraging the power of networking is also very important. “Thanks to the digital information age we live in, you don’t need millions of dirhams to market your product. Of course it would help to have a million dirham marketing budget, but ours is substantially smaller,” explains D’Almeida.

D’Almeida asserts that the future of health food is in creating awareness and being able to deliver health food to everyone; not just people earning five digit salaries. “Our future plans are to make health food more exciting and social. Presently all my waking hours are devoted to U’ve Got Meal. Right now, it’s about taking this ahead and expanding into other markets,” concludes D’Almeida.