Growing an online meat subscription service
When I joined this U.S.-based meat and seafood subscription startup, the team was just four people and the product had barely launched. Over the next 3.5 years, I helped shape the customer experience and growth strategy as the company scaled to 12 people and reached $100M in revenue.
#1 meat delivery service in USA in numbers
The growth was driven first by aggressive customer acquisition through marketing investments, and later by a focus on profitability—reducing marketing costs and leveraging referral programs to scale more sustainably.
A strategic process that drives results
Our process balanced strategic alignment with rapid experimentation to drive measurable growth. Each year, the executive team defined the key business goals, and together with the product owners, had brainstorming sessions to generate as many ideas as possible to meet those targets. We then built business cases for the most promising concepts, presented them to stakeholders, and aligned on which direction to pursue.
We operated in two-week sprints, aiming to launch at least one experiment every two sprints to maintain a steady pace of learning. The workflow followed four key phases:
Problem definition
Aligning business needs with user needs to ensure our initiatives had both impact and relevance.
1
Research
Gathering insights through data analysis, reviewing past findings, and exploring user pain points. When needed, we ran user testing on potential ideas early on to reduce risk.
2
Design solutions
Developing concepts iteratively, assessing effort with the technical team, and refining until we reached alignment on feasibility and impact.
3Experiment & measure
Shipping solutions, collecting data, and analyzing results to inform the next cycle of decisions.
4From ideas to impact
Behind the big milestones were countless small bets. We treated every idea as an experiment—starting with a challenge, testing different approaches, and making tough trade-offs along the way. Some worked better than others, but each one helped us learn faster and sharpen our strategy. Here are a few experiments that show how design and product thinking translated into real growth.
Problem definition
Prospects were defaulted to a 4-week delivery cadence, but many wanted more flexibility to fit their lifestyle. The lack of cadence options reduced conversion and customer retention opportunities.
Changes
Introduced and tested new delivery cadence options (4, 6, or 8 weeks) on the plans page.
Strategic thinking and trade-offs
We approached this launch by first validating the cadence change with medium and large plans before expanding to the XL plan, where flexibility was expected to be even more valuable. Based on strong early conversion results, we made the strategic decision to roll out the feature before waiting for 25-week retention validation.
This new feature added a technical layer of complexity that the team evaluated first. We decided it was worth the effort in the end.
Besides, competition was already offering those cadences with success.
Business impact
+9.2% gross conversion rate
Problem definition
Current M and L plans didn't serve larger households. 40% of the target market has 4+ people, but only 1.75% used larger boxes, suggesting the service seemed unsuitable.
Changes
Launched an XL plan (18 cuts) for new and existing customers. After rollout, made UI tweaks (especially on desktop) to improve plan comparison, which helped lift conversion rates.
Strategic thinking and trade-offs
The XL plan was tested as a pricing anchor but instead revealed direct demand (4.4% take rate). Despite initial drops in conversion and order rate, higher AOV and stronger add-on spend (+9% vs. +6% for smaller plans) justified rollout.
Business impact
+4.3% gross CR
−1.9% AOR
+4.3% AOV since XL customers spend more on add-ons
Problem definition
Customers believed that after adding their payment details, they will be charged and they won't be able to cancel in case they don't want to proceed with the order.
Changes
We improved the messaging on the payment page so that users understand they won't be charged at checkout.
Strategic thinking and trade-offs
This was a direct rollout since the team saw similar experiments performing successfully in other brands of the company. No significant trade-offs to make since technically the effort was low.
Business impact
+2.9% CR
Problem definition
One of our key acquisition channels was referral, but new customers often abandoned at the plans page. The high upfront box prices created sticker shock, the limited menu selection meant they couldn't always access the specific cuts their friends recommended, and the referral discount amount varied depending on the plan chosen — further adding to confusion and hesitation.
Changes
I recommended reviewing the referral funnel by removing the plans page and directing referees straight to the cut selection.
Strategic thinking and trade-offs
Redesigning the referral funnel would reduce early drop-off and increase conversion. Instead of landing on the plans page, referees would go directly into the cut selection experience, supported by light personalization to highlight relevant options.
We could also improve the experience further by offering a bigger discount after selecting the 3 free cuts or even test a seamless upgrade experience with no barriers.
Estimated business impact
Stakeholders aligned on the approach, but the technical effort required was significant and quarterly priorities were already set.