Diet to Go: Fairfax County Meal Delivery Company Does $15 Million in Sales Per Year

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Having a hard time keeping your New Year's resolution to get healthy? Need a boost? A longtime company based right here in Northern Virginia that does business nationwide might be your answer. Diet to Go offers delivery of fresh low-calorie meals. There's no cooking involved -- all you do is heat up the meal. The company, based in Lorton, is run by its founder, CEO Hilton Davis, who answered some questions Patch sent him recently about his business:

Q: How did you get the idea for starting Diet to Go?

A: I had been in the food business for over 10 years as a wholesaler and had done a project in 1985 with a major retailer of fresh, prepared meals produced and supplied by my company and sold through the deli department. That gave me the inspiration to produce healthy meals and offer them to the general public directly. I started working on the business in 1989 and launched on a very small scale in February 1991.

Q: How has the business changed since it's beginnings?

A: The basic concept has changed very little. We were local in the DC area until 2000 at which time we developed shipping capabilities so that we could ship our product nationwide. We also opened a partner facility on the West Coast in 2000. We have added different types of meal plans (low carb, diabetic, vegetarian) and constantly upgrade the meal plans to improve quality and keep abreast of new information as to what "healthy eating" is.

Q: How many employees are there? What do they do (cooks, drivers, etc.)?

A: About 100 employees. Kitchen personnel, customer service reps, sales reps and management.

Q: How is your company different than other meal delivery companies?

A: We’ve strictly adhered to the health guidelines and evidence-based knowledge. Through operation efficiency we remain the most economical for food of our quality. Our food also tastes better! We’ve never compromised on that, the food has to be good, very good. We’ve worked with many expert chefs and nutritionists, and don’t outsource so we have tight controls on our products, the process and the distribution. Combined with our twice-weekly distribution, our meals are extremely fresh, so it’s like having a personal chef. We really do consider this more like a personal chef service.

Q: How many different items are there to choose from?

A: Over 450 different meals in four basic types of meal plans. Customers are set up on a meal plan and have countless meal options to choose from; variety is key. You really do get to pick what you get and we think that’s important. We know if customers stick with it they’ll lose 1-3 pounds a week and we hear these types of results every day.

Q: If someone is not on a diet/trying to lose weight, do they still order Diet to Go food?

A: Yes. We believe 30 percent of our customers are "convenience seekers." Our slogan is "Healthy Eating Made Easy" and we provide that in a delicious, affordable way. We offer smaller plans, too, and can customize to meet individual needs. Often after customers lose the weight, they’ll keep ordering from us. For example… lunches and dinners three days a week, or just dinners five days a week for convenience. Maintaining is a big part of weight loss, so we’re here for all of that!

Q: How often do you change the menu? Is there anything on the menu today that was on the menu when you started out?

A: We are “foodies” so we love exploring new menu items and offering them to our customers. We keep up with the latest food trends and try to offer a variety of dishes so customers can decide how adventurous they’d like to be. Of our approximately 450 meals, probably 50 were served in "Year 1." Popular meals become classics and stay on the menu.

Q: How do you get ideas for new menu items?

A: We have a team that meets weekly to review our current menus, use customer data as to popularity of meals and develop new meals. Our chefs make new ideas for us and serve them at our weekly management meetings and written feedback is provided. Over the years we’ve worked with many professional chefs in our Guest Chef program and with dietitians, nutritionists and medical doctors.

Q: Can you give us an idea of how much you have grown from when you started to now? (number of deliveries each year/customers)

A: Year one sales were about $250,000, year 2-$660,000 and now about $15 million. We currently serve almost 2 million meals per year and have served over an estimated 20 million total.

You can read 71 Yelp reviews of Diet to Go here and find out more about the company on its Web site here.

PHOTO: Diet to Go's John Stewart, vice president of operations, Hilton Davis, CEO and Rachel Burdo, vice president of administrative services.