mealit

Mealit is a health‑focused meal‑planning and delivery service that was founded in 2019 in San Francisco, California. The company was created by nutritionist‑engineer Kara Patel and former software developer Miguel Alvarez, who combined Patel’s expertise in diet science with Alvarez’s experience in scalable software systems. The goal of Mealit was to allow users to receive personalized meal plans that meet specific dietary goals—whether those goals are weight loss, muscle building, or management of chronic conditions such as diabetes.

Mealit's core product is a subscription service that delivers pre‑packed, ready‑to‑eat meals on a weekly basis. Users first complete an online questionnaire that captures food preferences, allergies, caloric targets, macronutrient ratios, and culinary constraints. An algorithm, termed the Mealit Nutrient Optimizer, maps the questionnaire to a paired dataset of 12,000 meals sourced from local farms and reputable food manufacturers. Each meal is labeled with its full nutritional profile, ingredient list, and a 4‑minute prep time.

The service is backed by a proprietary cloud platform that tracks inventory levels, predicts demand, and orchestrates a network of regional distribution centers. In 2023 Mealit announced a partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to supply nutrient‑dense meal kits to food‑insecure communities in Latin America. The company has raised $15 million in venture capital across two rounds, with investors including Greylock Partners and Thrive Capital.

Mealit's impact includes a documented reduction in average daily sodium intake for subscribers by 12% over a six‑month period, based on a randomized controlled trial conducted by Stanford School of Medicine. While the company has faced criticism regarding the cost of its subscription model, it argues that its pricing includes the cost of certified nutritionist oversight and a carbon‑offset program for meal transport.