The SmartFOOD story

SmartFOOD started for a fairly simple reason: I needed a service like this myself.

I had spent years working in concert organising, and during the busier periods, eating properly was honestly close to the last thing I had the capacity to think about. I usually remembered to eat only once I was already properly hungry, and then I ate whatever happened to be in front of me.

At some point I realised that this wouldn’t get me far, and I started looking for someone close to home who would prepare several days’ worth of meals for me at once. The plan was simple: I would bring the ingredients myself, the food would be cooked, and I would pick the boxes up in the mornings. I wasn’t giving much thought to calories and macros at that point, but the healthy plate model was still in the back of my mind.

Then, on one trip, I came across a service offering a full day of food with a set calorie count, delivered to your door. Exactly what I had been looking for myself. That is where the idea of doing the same in Estonia came from.

When SmartFOOD launched in 2017, we were the first in Estonia to offer this service. Everything had to be built from nothing – menus and recipes, the kitchen’s working processes, order management, packaging and logistics. In the beginning a large part of life ran in Excel, and we invented solutions as we went.

Today SmartFOOD is, of course, an entirely different company. We have our own production kitchen, a convenient customer environment, working logistics with our own couriers and vehicle fleet, and a team of around 12 people. But the original idea has stayed the same: to make normal everyday eating as simple as possible for someone who doesn’t have the time or the inclination to plan, calculate and prepare everything themselves every day. Or to help out when the goals have to do with body weight.

Alongside the standard package we have also created a protein package, with active people and regular trainers particularly in mind. A sufficient amount of protein helps to build and maintain muscle mass and, together with exercise, supports recovery and the preservation of physical capacity. As we get older, paying attention to this becomes even more important, because maintaining muscle mass matters more and more.

SmartFOOD has developed over the years and the range has grown, but the reason we do it is still the same – so that eating well and in line with your own goals doesn’t have to be a separate project.

And probably the best feeling of all is that a service I once went looking for for myself has by now helped thousands of people.

That was a pretty good reason to get the thing done.