Can food delivered to the home actually be healthy and sustainable? Julie Nguyen is certainly trying to do just that. But it’s not easy.
The Stanford-grad and former finance professional has been building her startup Methodology for a decade now — alongside co-founder Stephen Liu.
When asked how challenging it’s been, given ready-to-eat meals have become a competitive market, she says, “Well I cried almost every day in my first two and a half years.”
But she was determined to make it work. The company rose out of personal need. “I tried all the other meal delivery services, and they were all so low quality. The food looked and tasted like TV dinners. Or they were designed for bodybuilders. The focus was on hitting macros. And I didn’t see any real desire to be sustainable, or think about sourcing.”
They started by Nguyen emptying out her entire 401K to bootstrap the business and forgoing a salary—as did Liu. Plus, they stayed frugal. “I mean we’re both children of immigrants so for us no waste and being mindful with our money is a part of us,” says Nguyen.
Then, as the duo gained traction, they raised a seed round from friends and family. Eventually, that came to $3 million. Since then, they’ve not raised any additional funding. Nguyen is keen to point out that they “were not in a rush to flip the company. We loved what we were doing.”
“We’ve turned down term sheets. We’ve never done a Series A. Most of our competitors have raised over $30 million. We raised $3 million. It’s a big difference.”
She adds, “we’ve chosen to focus on quality. And so when you go the VC route, the metrics you have to obsess over are top-line revenue growth. Stephen and I, we obsess over two things: how quickly is our business bank account growing and how many lifers do we have? That’s been what we’ve optimized for. So if a business cares most about how many lifers it has, then they’re going to care about quality. They’re going to care about retaining every customer.”
But the other key differences would be in their sustainability — which Nguyen says was supported by her customers. Since they were focused on keeping customers month after month, customers noticed how much waste a delivery service could produce. And so they too wanted to find a more eco-friendly options.
Thus, they introduced glass jars, which was not easy Nguyen admits.
“From when we came up with the idea to being able to bring it to life, it was probably at least a one-year process to figure out the supply chain issues related to glass. And it’s hard, so that this is why none of our competitors really did it.”
While not all the products are in glass, some are in recyclable (but also reusable) bento containers. These bentos, Nguyen says, took them two years to develop because it had to be leak-proof for customers who are on-the-go and eating on the road. But both items can be picked up after they’re emptied – if you live in California. The company is working on trying to expand that to other regions.
Sourcing is the other unique piece to Methodology’s business model, says Nguyen.
The company works closely with growers, so much so that one farm in California grows entirely for them. And given Liu’s background in fine dining, they’ve focused on the ingredients. Most of the produce used is certified organic (though some local farms just can’t take the certification costs but still grow organically, she explains). Especially when it comes to the infamous “dirty dozen” – such as berries and applies – that produce is certified organic. And they’re trying to add more organic ingredients regularly.
They are pricier, as a result, she admits. “But this is for a customer who is interested in nutrition, the quality of the ingredients, and the sustainability. It’s definitely not about being the cheapest option out there.”
But when they launched, how did they get the word out beyond just family and friends?
Nguyen says she leaned on her her media buying background. As a former finance and tech entrepreneur, she had seen how paid media opportunities can translate into sales — but only if done based on data. “I know exactly where every dollar goes, and how quickly I’ll be getting it back.”
It seems to be working. Nguyen reports that they had a record-breaking year in 2023, and continued growth in 2024. “Like we can barely keep up with volume. Like the chefs are like, dear God, make it stop. But it’s because people are now realizing, oh, I need a whole unprocessed food, but I also need it in the right macro ratio, finally.”
But she’s not done. She recently relocated to Paris and has a new company developing, Maison Methodologie, featuring Einkorn-based cookies.
Nguyen discovered that she had a strong sensitivity to gluten. Or as she likes to put it: “I balloon up if I eat wheat for two days. But I can eat unlimited Einkorn.”
And thus, their latest venture is supporting Einkorn-based products, starting with a cookie. Not only is Einkorn wheat easier to digest, a good source of protein, but it’s also good for soils (as it deposits nutrients into the ground), and has said to be one of the oldest ancestors of wheat.
And now she wants to scale it up and bring it to more households. While currently everything is made by hand, she’s looking at how she can make it more cost-effective for everyday consumers.
“My dream is to create something that every house in America would be excited to have, and it will make a little bit of a difference at least in their lives and their healthiness and their joy. We all wanna do something that’s a larger reach, that’s more affordable, but it stills bring a bit of joy. Because before I started Methodology, I associated healthy eating with pure deprivation, like just suffer through it, suck it up, eat this broken bar, eat this meal prep thing, just suck it up because it’s good for you. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
A decade into entrepreneurship — and trying to create a positive impact, she has one advice for fellow entrepreneurs: find someone to talk with during the toughest times because it will not be easy — that’s a guarantee.
“I mean, you just kind of need to have that person, whether it’s a mentor or a family member or a spouse or a best friend who is going to see your potential during the dark days when you can’t see it. Yeah, yeah. It’s a hard way to make a living. There’s easier ways to make a living than being an entrepreneur.”
That said, Methodology’s annual revenue is now eight figures, according to Nguyen.
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