Not all food delivered to your door has that home-cooked touch. Here are some that do in Newcastle and the Hunter.

James and Tess Borg - who also own Mockingbird Cafe at Hamilton and Fennel & Co Catering - launched the meal home-delivery business four years ago.

"We have a big warehouse at Mayfield West and we work out of there," James Borg, who is a qualified chef, tells Weekender.

"All of our weddings have been postponed and Cranky Chef had the website and online ordering system ready to go. We did it last year so all our systems were in place. We knew what to do."

Cranky Chef Catering delivers everything from grocery staples to brunch boxes, platters and pre-cooked meals to your door. Borg has 12 full-time chefs and apprentices on the payroll and the menu caters for individuals, families and even corporate orders.

"Our meals are like your restaurant-style banquet - slow-cooked meats, a bit of Middle Eastern, a bit of Asian and European. It's food that excites us; what we like to eat," he says.

"Our 18-hour slow-cooked lamb shoulders and crispy pork bellies are popular and we've just paired up with The Koutetsu in town to deliver cocktails as well.

"Home deliveries died off massively last year to the point that we pared back the menu and delivery days but as soon as we sensed lockdown was coming, we went back to seven days a week. Night one of this lockdown was crazy and on the Saturday, all our staff were out making deliveries from 6am."

The Borgs are also opening "another Mockingbird" in the Hunter Valley soon. It will be called Mockingbird at Tatlers.

Like Cranky Chef Catering, Ready Spaghetti Peters delivers fully-cooked meals to your door.

Qualified chef Victoria "Tory" Peters started the business in 2018 and uses the kitchen at long-running organic store, Hunter Organic Food, at The Junction. She also runs Brothology, a grab-and-go broth shop, from Hunter Organic Food.

"Ready Spaghetti has been steady from the beginning, I've just picked up more and more regulars along the way," she says.

"I do a new special every week and have a lot of good vegan options. I change them all the time and I think that's why so many people sign up with 'set and forget', because there is such good variety.

"A lot of people ask me to cater for specific diets - keto is a big one - and I can do that that because the business is still small enough that I know every single customer and can tweak things for them.

"I still know in my head what each customer wants, which kids don't like spices and things like that, which is something I want to keep doing."

Charlestown-based meal home-delivery service YumboRama launched in November 2019 and hit its stride during last year's lockdown. The team delivers home-style heat-and-eat meals to Newcastle, the Hunter and the Central Coast.

"The concept has been received brilliantly," founder Richard Vidler says.

"Chef Ben Holland is amazing. Creating homestyle heat-and-eat meals that still taste and appear as restaurant quality is not easy or simple to pull off, but Ben has mastered the task.

"Our highest selling meals are our lasagne, our brisket pies, paella, laksas, butter chicken and chicken baked dinners, and interestingly, we sell a lot of our creamy mashed potato as a side."

Vidler says there has been a definite jump in customer numbers since the latest lockdown started.

He believes meal home-delivery businesses are here to stay and will only increase in popularity.

"Life is busy and people need convenience," he explains.

"Plus, we cater for NDIS participants and aged care recipients, and some of these folks totally rely on having all their meals delivered. So it's not just about convenience - it is also an absolute necessity for many members of our society.

"Our meals are delivered either frozen or chilled, and they go straight into the fridge or freezer and can be heated and consumed at whatever time they are needed.

"It's not about ordering, waiting for the delivery, and eating there and then. Our model allows for whole-week meal planning - and that speaks to why I think home delivery will become even more popular - but folks will become more particular about what they want from that delivery service. Ours is a very personalised service and experience for our customers."

Happi Chicken at Kurri Kurri has been cooking home-style comfort food for several years now, and has also entered the home delivery game. Rosa Grine says deliveries have been in high demand and, in addition to ordering on their website, customers can order via their app.

"We deliver from 4pm daily and lunch deliveries will start on Monday, August 16, while we are in lockdown," she says.

"We deliver to Kurri Kurri and surrounding areas as far as Neath, Sawyers Gully, Cliftleigh and Gillieston Heights.

"Our most popular items are our chicken schnitzel burgers, our new family share boxes, and our in-house baked cheesecakes."

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