What Being Named to the Inc. 5000 Means to Me
What Being Named to the Inc. 5000 Means to Me
by Chef Stefano, CEO & Co-Founder of MightyMeals
This week, MightyMeals was officially named to the 2026 Inc. 5000, ranking No. 2,348 among the fastest-growing private companies in America after achieving 143% revenue growth over the past three years.
Seeing MightyMeals on that list is surreal.
When Alex and I started this company in 2015, we weren't thinking about rankings, awards, or how big the business could become. We were focused on solving a problem we saw every day: people wanted to eat healthier, but consistently preparing nutritious food was difficult.
We believed there had to be a better way.
From One Kitchen to 27 States
MightyMeals started in my family's restaurant kitchen in Northern Virginia.
There wasn't a massive operation or some perfectly mapped-out plan for where we'd be a decade later. There was an idea, a willingness to work, and a belief that if we could make healthy eating more convenient without sacrificing quality or flavor, we could build something meaningful.
Today, we're preparing tens of thousands of meals every week and serving customers across 27 states.
We've built an incredible team. We've expanded our capabilities. We've formed partnerships that allow us to take our mission beyond traditional meal delivery. And through all of that growth, we've continued learning what it actually takes to scale a business.
It hasn't always been easy. Growth rarely is.
Growth Is About More Than Revenue
The Inc. 5000 measures companies by revenue growth, and achieving 143% growth over three years is something I'm incredibly proud of.
But when I think about MightyMeals' growth, revenue isn't the first thing that comes to mind.
I think about the people.
I think about the employees who have grown alongside this company. I think about customers who have trusted us with their meals week after week. I think about the relationships we've built with partners and organizations throughout our community.
Those things aren't captured in a percentage.
Growing a company requires constantly making decisions about where to invest, what to change, what to protect, and sometimes what to leave behind. The larger MightyMeals becomes, the more responsibility we have to make those decisions thoughtfully.
That's one of the biggest lessons entrepreneurship has taught me: growth for the sake of growth isn't enough. You have to know what you're growing toward.
The Mission Hasn't Changed
For us, that answer still comes back to the same idea that started MightyMeals in the first place.
Make healthy eating easier and more accessible.
The opportunity to do that today is much larger than it was when we started.
We're delivering to more communities. We're developing new partnerships. We're exploring how convenient nutrition can play a greater role in healthcare, wellness, and food access.
I believe we're entering a period where food companies can have an even greater impact on people's health. The growing conversation around Food Is Medicine reinforces something we've believed for years: what people eat matters, but access and convenience matter too.
Knowing what healthy eating looks like is one thing. Making it realistic every single day is another.
That's the problem we're continuing to solve.
This Recognition Belongs to the Team
MightyMeals being named to the Inc. 5000 isn't an individual accomplishment.
It's the result of thousands of decisions made by hundreds of people over many years.
Our team has continued showing up, adapting, solving problems, and pushing this company forward. Our customers have trusted us and challenged us to become better. Our partners and community have supported an idea that started in a small kitchen and helped turn it into something much bigger.
I'm incredibly grateful for all of them.
And I'm especially proud that after more than a decade, we're still hungry to improve.
We're Just Getting Started
There are companies on the Inc. 5000 that I grew up hearing about—businesses that went on to become household names and transform entire industries.
It's humbling to see MightyMeals included on that same list.
But this isn't a finish line.
It's a checkpoint.
I'm proud of the 143% growth we've achieved. I'm proud to see MightyMeals ranked No. 2,348 in the country. And I'm proud of how far we've come since 2015.
But I'm much more interested in what we're going to build over the next ten years.
There's still an enormous opportunity to make nutritious food more convenient, more accessible, and more integrated into how we think about health.
We're going to keep learning. Keep building. Keep taking risks. And keep working toward that mission.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far.
We're just getting started.