A meal preparation and delivery service business in Maseru
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess consumer preference for an online meal ordering and payment service in the food industry in Maseru, Lesotho. This service would offer office bound workers delivery of a variety of light meal alternatives, even catering for specific dietary preferences such as Banting and vegetarian.
Lesotho is a small landlocked country in Southern Africa, wholly encircled by South Africa, and one of 46 countries that falls into the United Nations category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) (UN, 2019). With South Africa being a more developed country and with better facilities and services all round, Basotho people continuously import South African goods, services, and culture, including ways of eating (Rantšo, 2017).
In many areas of urban South Africa, consumers take it for granted that they can access a variety of prepared meals and have them to their door. This experience
companies likes Mr. Delivery and Uber eats have made ordinary. Conversely, very few delivery services currently exist in Lesotho. The research explored the preference of Maseru’s working-class towards a new meal preparation start-up offering a menu with freshly prepared healthy eating alternatives paired with the convenience of delivery to the office in time for their lunch break.
The research question was answered by collecting data from 60 potential customers, being office bound workers, from both the private and public sectors
in Maseru within the 24 to 50 year age range. Data was collected using an electronic survey and analysed using Microsoft Excel and a statistical programme called Jasp.014. Frequencies and related graphs were created in Microsoft Excel, while Jasp.014 was used for Chi-Square calculations.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023
Keywords
Lesotho, Maseru, Customer preference, e-commerce, Least developed country, Meal delivery service, Personalisation, Loyalty, UCTD
Citation
Raphuthing, Lomile. (2023). A meal preparation and delivery service business in Maseru [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40062