Cook guide
Cook in your own kitchen and sell to people in your neighborhood. This guide lists what you need, in order. Most of it is free and done online.
1. Who can register
- You're 18 or older, and you cook in your own home kitchen.
- Your kitchen is in Al Madinah. We're opening one neighborhood at a time.
- You hold a permit to sell (step 2) and a Balady health certificate (step 3).
2. Get your permit to sell
If you're Saudi and don't have a CR, you need two things, in this order:
- The Productive Family certificate (شهادة الأسر المنتجة) from the Social Development Bank, at nppf.sdb.gov.sa. It's for Saudi citizens aged 18 and over, and it's usually issued within one working day.
- The Freelance Document (وثيقة العمل الحر) in the Productive Families category, with a food activity, at freelance.sa. It's free, and it needs the certificate from step 1.
Or a Commercial Registration (CR) with a food activity, which replaces both.
If you're not Saudi and live in Saudi Arabia, you register with a CR.
The app asks for the number and expiry date of your Freelance Document or CR. The Productive Family certificate is optional in the app.
Not sure which fits you? Email support@merakiapp.sa and we'll help you choose.
3. Get your health certificate
- Apply on Balady. It includes a medical check at an approved center and a short health course.
- Anyone who helps you cook needs their own certificate.
- In the app it's called Health certificate (Balady), and you add its expiry date.
- If Balady asks for a shop licence you don't have, email us before you pay anything. We'll guide you.
Optional: a food-safety course certificate helps us approve your kitchen faster.
4. Have these ready
The app asks for:
- Your kitchen: its name (Arabic or English), a short story, up to 5 cuisines, your city, its location on the map, its address, and its logo
- Your ID: national ID or Iqama number, nationality, date of birth, and a photo of the ID
- Health certificate (Balady): a photo and its expiry date
- Freelance Document or CR: its number, expiry date and a photo, plus the legal name on it if it differs from your name
- Optional: the Productive Family certificate, and a food-safety course certificate (photos)
- How customers pay you: cash, bank transfer, or both. For transfers, add the details customers should use. They see them only on orders you've accepted.
- Your IBAN and IBAN certificate: an official certificate issued by your bank, showing the account holder's name in English, for an account in your own name. Ideally the account is linked to your Freelance Document or CR (banks open these accounts for document holders). Your earnings go there once customers can pay in the app, so with it on file you won't need to send anything again.
You can't register with expired documents. We remind you 14 days before your Freelance Document (or CR) or health certificate expires. Email the renewed one to support@merakiapp.sa.
5. Register in the app
Open the Meraki app and go to Account → Register your kitchen → Start my application. We review your kitchen and documents, usually within one to two days.
Once your kitchen is approved, add your dishes and set your hours. Every dish needs its calories per serving and its allergens (or "None of the common allergens"), a price, and real photos of your own food.
Kitchens approved before the founding period ends (the first 90 days after launch) keep a Founding kitchen label on their kitchen page for good.
The app is coming soon. Join the waitlist as a cook, and we'll email you the day registration opens.
Register your kitchen6. Our kitchen standards
- A clean kitchen.
- Hot food stays hot, and cold food stays in the fridge until pickup.
- Sealed, food-safe packaging.
- Accurate menus: real photos, with ingredients, allergens and calories.
- A valid permit and health certificate at all times. We remind you before they expire, and we pause a kitchen whose documents have expired.
7. Getting paid
- Customers pay you directly at pickup, by cash or bank transfer, whichever you accept. Meraki doesn't collect or hold the money.
- When you hand over an order, tap Picked up and paid in the app.
- If a customer has a valid complaint, such as a missing item, you settle it with them directly. We help, and we may pause a kitchen that doesn't settle a valid complaint.
- We share the full Cook Agreement before you start selling.
8. Need help?
Email support@merakiapp.sa.
Need money to equip your kitchen? The Social Development Bank offers financing for productive families.