On Vulcan Post, we’ve written about several food delivery services. Eating healthy is a huge thing in Singapore, with everyone looking for more convenient and afforable ways to eat well in a bid to lead healthier lifestyles. And joining the wave of food delivery services is FitThree, a meal delivery service that consists of a team of professional chefs producing healthy food.
But there are a number of factors differentiating FitThree from other meal delivery services.
For one, FitThree doesn’t just deliver to any location you choose. Instead, they have streamlined their delivery destinations to include only gyms or yoga studios. Also, meals aren’t delivered daily, but on a twice-weekly basis (Mondays and Thursdays). The delivery service offers either a three-day or five-day meal plan, which means that food delivered on Monday will include meals for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, while food delivered on Thursday will cover you for Thursday and Friday.
But how does that make sense?
We spoke to Vincent Félicité, the founder of FitThree, to find out why he made such changes to the usual business model that most food delivery services have.
Singapore’s Healthy Food Problem
When Vincent first moved to Singapore, he discovered while working in the Central Business District that there was a struggle to eat healthily. While Singapore has a strong fitness culture, nutrition remains something that is hard to tackle for working professionals, given the limited options they have.
Most working professionals have their meals at nearby hawker centres, which don’t provide the healthiest options.
“As a fitness enthusiast, I grew very frustrated at the lack of healthy food available in Singapore,” Vincent shared. “I kept hearing that Singapore is a food paradise but for someone like me who is trying to eat healthy, I couldn’t eat outside without spending $15 for a poor sandwich and a salad. I was cooking my meals at home but it gets very time-consuming and it was difficult to balance my working hours, social life and cooking sessions. If I was going out after work to meet my friends, I had nothing to eat the next day at work.”
“So after 4 years of complaining, I had this idea of providing ready meals specifically to people who exercise. I spoke to 2 friends about it and they liked it. So we decided to do it.”
Along with co-founders Arthur de Corbier and Tachfine El Belky, he launched FitThree in September last year, which is currently in beta.
Gym-Exclusive Food
FitThree’s clients likely share Vincent’s frustrations about Singapore’s food culture. According to Vincent, his clients are all active individuals who regularly exercise, and whom are willing to spend a bit more on good nutrition than the usual $5 hawker centre meal. This also explains why FitThree is focusing its efforts on delivering to gyms rather than offices: it makes the food exclusive to people who are doing their best to stay active, and doesn’t simply cater to working professionals stuck in the office over lunch break.
Current pickup locations for FitThree
“We tested different formulae before finding this one. We tried to do deliveries to homes/offices but it is really difficult in Singapore because of the cost of transportation. On top of that, people are sometimes busy with calls or meetings at the office and are not available to collect their meals, so we have to wait and it delays everything.”
“A healthy body is a combination of both exercise and the right nutrition, so we work with gyms that are promoting this idea of a lifestyle,” Vincent added.
How does a twice-weekly delivery system work out?
Such a streamlined delivery system has its logistical kinks: after all, most people don’t visit gyms every day, and it doesn’t make sense to cater only to days when people do go to the gym. To deal with this, FitThree has a unique logistics process to deal with packaging, preserving, and delivering their food — this ensures the quality of their meals.
Once the food is cooked, its temperature is reduced to keep it between 0 to 5°C. It is kept above freezing point, since freezing food affects its quality. But by reducing the temperature of the food to prevent it from drying out, its shelf life gets extended to three days. Once the food is collected, customers can keep their meals in the fridge, and simply microwave them before eating.
Extensive R&D by FitThree’s in-house chef, Warren Poh, has given the team an understanding of what kinds of foods work best with this process, making their meals quite possibly one of the best “microwaveable meals” you can get. The stew and curry that you can expect from the delivery service is even said to taste better after a few days, as they have had more time to marinate.
What’s On FitThree’s Menu?
Checking out their menu, it’s clear to see that nutrition is taken very seriously by FitThree. With absolute transparency, customers can see the exact number of calories, the ingredient list, as well as the percentage of Protein, Carbs, and Fats in each dish, helping them tailor their meals to fit specific diets. The provision of percentage values for the three types of macronutrients is likely a welcome factor, as it is what people tend to look out for when they want to start eating healthily.
Currently, FitThree only offers “Omnitarian” food, which is ideal for people with no specific restrictions in their diets. However, but Vincent shared that they will eventually introduce a low-carb option with higher fiber content, as well as Vegetarian and Paleo meals (a.k.a. the Caveman diet).
“I personally don’t like to say that our recipes are low in fat because fat is important for the body to function properly. All our recipes for the “Omnitarian” diet have between 20% and 30% of their calories coming from fat, which is usually recommended by dietitians. We only use low-GI carbs to keep you full all day long and green vegetables to add some fibers to your diet.”
Food Subscription In Singapore
Food subscription or delivery services — especially those specialising in healthy foods — isn’t a new sight in Singapore. With startups like Grain, Naked Meals, and Good Food Heals offering their versions of what healthy food delivery should be, FitThree’s choice to enter the market through a different approach is a wise one.
Sure, the delivery system makes the service much more exclusive, but Vincent shares that he is looking to expand beyond the five boutique gyms that he has been partnering with in this beta phase. His main goal is to work closely with boutique gyms with strong communities and a passion for fitness and nutrition, tapping straight into a ripe target market that wants exactly what FitThree is providing.
In fact, FitThree’s meals may just be delicious enough to coax you to keep going to the gym.
