Better World Software Inc.
Case Study
How Langley Meals on Wheels Increased Capacity with Better Meal Delivery
Langley Meals on Wheels used Better Meal Delivery to streamline daily operations, improve route and volunteer coordination, and support significant program growth.
Customer Overview
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Langley Meals on Wheels
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Non-profit, Meal Delivery Services
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Langley, BC, Canada
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15 employees, 100 volunteers
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Case Study Completed July 2024
Key Results
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17% increase in clients served
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114% increase in meals delivered
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Daily operations reduced from approximately 6 hours to less than 1 hour
General Background
Langley Meals on Wheels has been serving the Langley community since 1979, delivering fresh, wholesome meals to clients who need support remaining independent at home.
Their program offers hot, cold, and frozen meal options to meet a range of client needs. In addition to delivering meals, volunteers provide friendly social connection, check on the well-being of clients who may be living alone, and help identify concerns that may require follow-up.
Beyond meal delivery, Langley Meals on Wheels supports the community through programs such as Food & Friends, the Firehouse Cafe, Healthy Living Bags, and Home-from-the-Hospital. Their work plays an important role in helping seniors and individuals with changing health needs stay connected, supported, and safe in their homes.
The Challenge
Before implementing Better Meal Delivery in March 2020, Langley Meals on Wheels was using an outdated application that no longer met the needs of their growing program.
The previous system had limited functionality, no remote access, and little to no ongoing support. It was primarily used to produce daily route sheets and could not support the broader operational needs of the organization.
Langley Meals on Wheels had been searching for a replacement system for several years, but struggled to find software that could properly support their meal delivery workflow, volunteer coordination, client management, recurring orders, reporting, billing, and route planning needs.
Implementation and Use
Better Meal Delivery was configured to support Langley Meals on Wheels’ specific workflow, allowing their team to transition ahead of schedule.
Today, the organization uses Better Meal Delivery as part of its daily operations. The system supports key activities such as:
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Onboarding new clients and volunteers
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Managing recurring meal orders
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Producing route sheets
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Optimizing routes
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Scheduling volunteers
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Preparing reports
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Supporting invoicing and billing processes
By bringing these workflows into one connected system, Langley Meals on Wheels was able to reduce manual administration and support a more efficient meal delivery operation.
Impact and Benefits
Better Meal Delivery has helped Langley Meals on Wheels increase capacity, reduce errors, improve efficiency, and provide more personalized service to clients.
The system gives staff better visibility into client needs, meal preferences, delivery details, volunteer schedules, and route information. This has made it easier to manage growth while maintaining a high level of service.
Volunteer scheduling and route planning have also become more efficient, helping the organization coordinate daily deliveries with greater confidence and less manual effort.
Results After Implementation
Since implementing Better Meal Delivery, Langley Meals on Wheels has significantly increased the number of clients served and meals delivered while maintaining similar meal delivery staffing levels.
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Unique clients served: Increased from 220 in Fiscal 2020 to 479 in Fiscal 2024, a 117% increase over five years.
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Meals delivered: Increased from 29,364 in Fiscal 2020 to 62,957 in Fiscal 2024, a 114% increase over five years.
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Staffing levels: Maintained similar meal delivery staffing levels despite a substantial increase in clients served and meals delivered.
These results show how Better Meal Delivery helped Langley Meals on Wheels grow their capacity without requiring the same level of growth in administrative effort.
Operational Improvements
Better Meal Delivery has helped Langley Meals on Wheels reach more clients while improving the quality and consistency of their service.
Before implementation, daily operations could take approximately six hours to complete. With Better Meal Delivery, that time has been reduced to less than one hour.
The system has also made it easier to manage special diets, meal plans, client preferences, and delivery details. This has helped reduce errors, improve communication, and support a more personalized experience for clients.
Staff and Volunteer Experience
Langley Meals on Wheels staff and volunteers have found Better Meal Delivery easy to learn and simple to use.
Volunteers appreciate having clear, easy-to-understand route and delivery information. Staff members are able to quickly navigate the system and complete daily activities such as client updates, route preparation, reporting, volunteer scheduling, and invoicing.
Training requirements have also been manageable. Volunteers can be trained to complete their tasks in the system within a few hours, and staff members typically require only a couple of training sessions to understand how to operate their programs.
Supporting Program Growth
Since implementing Better Meal Delivery, Langley Meals on Wheels has been able to grow its meal delivery operations, serve more clients, offer more programs, and expand to more locations.
The system has also supported additional service areas, including health and wellness tracking. This allows the organization to provide more value to clients while maintaining better visibility into client needs and program activity.
Because Better Meal Delivery can track the key information required for daily operations and expand as programs evolve, it has become an important tool in supporting Langley Meals on Wheels’ long-term growth.
Metrics That Matter
Langley Meals on Wheels measures success using key indicators such as meals delivered, clients served, and volunteer turnover.
Since implementing Better Meal Delivery, the organization has seen significant growth in clients served and meals delivered, while volunteer turnover has remained steady despite the increase in programs and operational activity.
This demonstrates that Langley Meals on Wheels has been able to grow capacity without creating the same level of additional administrative burden.
Comparison to Previous Systems
Before Better Meal Delivery, Langley Meals on Wheels had experience with other systems, including an Access-based application and ServTracker.
The Access application had limited features, no remote access, and little to no support. ServTracker presented challenges with errors, a long onboarding period, slower support responses, and staff training difficulties.
By comparison, Better Meal Delivery has provided Langley Meals on Wheels with a more reliable, feature-rich, and user-friendly system built specifically for nonprofit meal delivery operations.
Continued Product Growth
Since this case study was first completed, Better Meal Delivery has continued to expand its volunteer tools, including optional volunteer and driver self-service access, route information, scheduling support, and email reminders.
Online volunteer registration and client self-service features are planned as future enhancements.
This continued product growth reflects how Better Meal Delivery evolves through customer feedback and real-world nonprofit meal delivery needs.
Overall Satisfaction
Langley Meals on Wheels has been extremely satisfied with Better Meal Delivery and the service provided.
The organization would recommend Better Meal Delivery to other nonprofits, highlighting the responsive customer service, intuitive design, ease of use for staff and volunteers, and the value of having a solution built specifically for organizations like theirs.
Shannon Woykin, Executive Director of Langley Meals on Wheels, has noted the importance of working with a software partner that understands nonprofit operations and is committed to building tools that support real client and community needs.
Conclusion
The partnership between Langley Meals on Wheels and Better World Software has helped transform Langley’s meal delivery operations.
With Better Meal Delivery, Langley Meals on Wheels has been able to increase efficiency, reduce administrative time, improve service quality, support growth, and serve more clients while maintaining similar meal delivery staffing levels.
This case study demonstrates how purpose-built meal delivery software can help nonprofit organizations strengthen operations, expand capacity, and continue delivering essential services to their communities.
Want to see how Better Meal Delivery could support your organization?
Book a demo and we’ll walk through how the platform can support your clients, meals, routes, volunteers, billing, and reporting.