Entrepreneur gives back to the community after meal prep business success

A local lad from the Inch in Edinburgh has been using his successful business to supply thousands of nutritional meals to some of the Capital’s most vulnerable households.

One of the nutritious meals on offer from Diced

Sam Deplacido, 28, set up Diced meal prep, and has come from humble roots but he has not forgotten the area that made him the man he is today.

He gave up a life of hanging from oil rigs in the North Sea to pursue his passion in cooking and nutrition around a year ago.

The entrepreneur began producing healthy nutritional meals from his family kitchen after being motivated by hairdresser girlfriend, Becci Cooke, 27, at the beginning of last year.

Si Ferry from the Open Goal podcast with Sam Deplacido.

Since then he has never looked back.

Diced produces over 7,000 meals a week at an average cost of six pound a meal. Each dish is carefully crafted and balanced with nutrition in mind.

Several Edinburgh footballers have thrown their backing behind the company, including Hibs star Ryan Porteous and Hearts star Jamie Walker, who have celebrated the success of their new found meal provider in keeping them healthy.

Even Si Ferry from Open Goal - who Sam says helped raise the profile of the business - is a huge supporter.

Sam Deplacido cooking up a storm

But on the back of this immense success Sam has stayed humble and has dedicated time and money to helping vulnerable households in the South East of Edinburgh.

Since the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, Diced has provided an average of 400-500 meals every week to those who are suffering from food insecurity - costing over £30,000.

Sam said: “We are Scotland’s leading meal prep company. We have risen from cooking in our family home to providing food to a whole nation in very little time. We have a strong background in working with charity as we provided the elderly, vulnerable and NHS Scotland with thousands of meals during stage one in lockdown in partnership with Helping Hands and Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre.”

Diced recently teamed up with Goodtrees to feed vulnerable residents from Sam’s old community.

Sam Deplacido along with volunteers from Goodtrees to distribute meals.

On this work he said: “It was good growing up in the Inch and the best times of my life. I always had a wee bit more than some folk around me and was never hard done by. But I do come from a working class background and completely understand the levels of poverty that exist in Edinburgh.

“I always wanted to help but never had the means or ways to do it until now. Everyone who works for me is committed to extra hours to help out vulnerable people and every member of the team has been fantastic.

“From the bottom of my heart I’d like to thank everyone who has helped us to achieve our goal of giving back - from the Gilmerton Miners Club who donated their kitchen space in the beginning, to all of the volunteers at Goodtrees and Helping Hands.”

Diced has set their sights on achieving their next goal of turning their current Portobello unit into a Deli and are pursuing an industrial unit that could help them streamline their production process as they move into the UK and Irish market in February.

To access Diced services you are advised to visit their website: https://dicedmealprep.co.uk/

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