Clean Cut Meals, a Galway-based ready-to-eat meal subscription service, started as a small operation in 2015. Now, after years of success, the brand is expanding its reach to a wider audience through major Irish supermarket chains. This article tells the story of Clean Cut Meals' journey from its humble beginnings to its thriving business model, highlighting the challenges and triumphs faced by founders Micheál Dyer and Conor McCallion.
Founded in Galway in 2015 by Micheál Dyer and Conor McCallion, Clean Cut Meals began as an online meal subscription service.
Micheál, from Oughterard, was studying culinary arts and Conor, from the Knocknacarra Salthill area, was studying hotel and catering management. “Within those two courses, there were a couple of modules that overlapped and that’s how we first came across each other. We just really hit off, we became very good friends,” Micheál explains.
One day, Conor turned to Micheál and said they should make a real go of it. They conducted some market research on their friends, who were all big into football and going to the gym - their target demographic. “We asked them if they would be interested in a service that delivered two healthy, calorie controlled meals a day. Everyone said yes. We did a soft launch in my kitchen in Clareview Park in Galway city. I was cooking meals at home and selling them to the lads in college.
Their first day was a learning curve. “From the hundreds of messages we got, we only received 27 orders on our first day. I went into it with confidence, I’ve worked in Michelin starred restaurants and I felt I could cook for 100 people on my own. Lessons learned Covid impacted the business greatly, according to Micheál. Their main market at the time was busy working professionals who didn’t have time to cook when they came home. With everyone at home due to lockdown, this market dwindled, so Clean Cut Meals had to pivot. “We started delivering meals to first responders and healthcare staff in hospitals. From that we got a paid catering gig, so we side stepped for a bit.
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