Talking Top Gun with Portions

If you’re a fan of Hello Fresh or Blue Apron, you’re going to love this week’s Talking Top Gun business, Portions! Brian Ross, the founder of Portions, is a chef with decades of culinary experience who wanted a faster, more convenient way to prepare a meal. His solution is Portions, a brick and mortar retail store that sells meal kits, much like Blue Apron’s or Hello Fresh’s product. These meal kits will contain pre-measured and pre-cut ingredients so that your meal prep and cooking time is reduced from an hour to half an hour or even fifteen minutes.

Now I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “What’s the difference between Portions and the other meal kit companies out there?” Portions will offer a wider variety of meals than its competitors, it will sell kits for breakfast, brunch, and other occasions, not just dinner, and you will be able to quickly choose a kit from the store, instead of having to order it online days in advance. This is just the beginning of the ideas that Brian has for Portions. He also has hopes for creating a home delivery feature, so I’m excited to see his dreams become a reality.

What was your inspiration for Portions?

Part of my inspiration is actually my dislike of takeout but also wanting to have something that is readily available at the home. Also, after working with a lot of different groups of people, such as the elderly, I found that there are so many ways to get food into the home, as opposed to some of the traditional methods that are out there.

What do you hope to gain by participating in Top Gun?

The biggest thing I want to come away with is the building of a team, whether it be through actual physical involvement or through mentorship. I’d like to put together a team for areas where I lack expertise, that way I can maximize the business by doing what I do best.

Where do you hope to see Portions in five years?

In five years, I would love to see Portions as a national chain. I think it could grow very steadily, pacing itself like a footprint from Bangor and creeping its way across the country.

If you would like to hear more about the Top Gun Entrepreneurship Accelerator, visit our program page here.