What the business is
Chicago meal-delivery service of fine-dining dishes cooked by a culinary team led by a former French Laundry chef
The bet
Restaurant-quality, ready-in-minutes meals from a Michelin-trained team, priced 30-50% below restaurants, can win a place among meal delivery services
Starting capital
$2.5 million pre-seed led by M25, with Hustle Fund, Pillar VC and The Community Fund
How it started
Jon Bell, a former Netflix global product lead, and Jason Weingarten, who built education software, launched Entrée in Chicago in July 2022. The meals are made by a Michelin-trained culinary team led by Alex Carnovale of The French Laundry and packaged in recyclable, plastic-neutral packaging so food does not arrive soggy or cold; most items are ready to eat in minutes.
What happened
Entrée adds about two new offerings a week, priced about 30% to 50% lower than restaurant equivalents, with a virtual maître d' and coloring sheets for kids. Eight months in, it had over 1,000 users, tens of thousands in monthly revenue, an average order above $60 and a reorder rate above 40% within 30 days, which the founders reported.
How it ended up
In March 2023 Entrée announced $2.5M in pre-seed funding closed the prior month, led by M25 with Hustle Fund, Pillar VC and The Community Fund. The 14-employee company would expand outside Chicago starting in 2024, add an Android app and referral programs, and speed up menu development.
What has to be true
Eight months in, users were ordering different dishes and reordering at over 40%
A high average order above $60 suggested customers would pay for quality
The company wanted a differentiated experience built on its own culinary team and stack
Pre-seed money would fund expansion beyond Chicago and an Android app
What can be applied
A premium meal-delivery startup tests reorder rate and order size in one city before expanding; the claim to differentiate through its own full stack and culinary team still has to survive scaling.
Aftermath
As of 2023-03-15, Entrée served Chicago with 14 employees, claimed 1,000+ users and a 40%+ reorder rate, and planned to expand to new cities in 2024.
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