diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 64ee031..605b73b 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ Topic guides provide in-depth explanations of specific topics.
    guides/requirements
    guides/admin
    topic/security
+   topic/customizing-installer
 
 
 Troubleshooting
diff --git a/tests/test_conda.py b/tests/test_conda.py
index a5a84e0..7b372e5 100644
--- a/tests/test_conda.py
+++ b/tests/test_conda.py
@@ -66,3 +66,21 @@ def test_ensure_pip_packages(prefix):
         '-c',
         'import numpy'
     ])
+
+
+def test_ensure_pip_requirements(prefix):
+    """
+    Test installing pip packages with requirements.txt in conda environment
+    """
+    conda.ensure_conda_env(prefix)
+    conda.ensure_conda_packages(prefix, ['pip'])
+    with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as f:
+        # Sample small package to test
+        f.write('there'.encode())
+        f.flush()
+        conda.ensure_pip_requirements(prefix, f.name)
+    subprocess.check_call([
+        os.path.join(prefix, 'bin', 'python'),
+        '-c',
+        'import there'
+    ])
diff --git a/tljh/conda.py b/tljh/conda.py
index 994bc79..d7dab54 100644
--- a/tljh/conda.py
+++ b/tljh/conda.py
@@ -66,3 +66,19 @@ def ensure_pip_packages(prefix, packages):
         'install',
         '--no-cache-dir',
     ] + packages)
+
+
+def ensure_pip_requirements(prefix, requirements_path):
+    """
+    Ensure pip packages from given requirements_path are installed in given conda prefix.
+
+    requirements_path can be a file or a URL.
+    """
+    abspath = os.path.abspath(prefix)
+    pip_executable = [os.path.join(abspath, 'bin', 'python'), '-m', 'pip']
+
+    subprocess.check_output(pip_executable + [
+        'install',
+        '-r',
+        requirements_path
+    ])
diff --git a/tljh/installer.py b/tljh/installer.py
index 39e7fb7..9253612 100644
--- a/tljh/installer.py
+++ b/tljh/installer.py
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def ensure_usergroups():
         f.write('Defaults exempt_group = jupyterhub-admins\n')
 
 
-def ensure_user_environment():
+def ensure_user_environment(user_requirements_txt_file):
     """
     Set up user conda environment with required packages
     """
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ def ensure_user_environment():
         'nteract-on-jupyter==1.8.1'
     ])
 
+    if user_requirements_txt_file:
+        # FIXME: This currently fails hard, should fail soft and not abort installer
+        conda.ensure_pip_requirements(USER_ENV_PREFIX, user_requirements_txt_file)
+
 
 def ensure_admins(admins):
     """
@@ -175,13 +179,17 @@ def main():
         nargs='*',
         help='List of usernames set to be admin'
     )
+    argparser.add_argument(
+        '--user-requirements-txt-url',
+        help='URL to a requirements.txt file that should be installed in the user enviornment'
+    )
 
     args = argparser.parse_args()
 
     ensure_admins(args.admin)
 
     ensure_usergroups()
-    ensure_user_environment()
+    ensure_user_environment(args.user_requirements_txt_url)
 
     print("Setting up JupyterHub...")
     ensure_jupyterhub_package(HUB_ENV_PREFIX)