Last year, we wrote about three fix-and-freeze companies that allow customers to assemble prepped food into healthy dinners.
The concept has exploded in the past year. Entrepreneurs across the US have started their own dinner assembly stores, and the field's leader, Dream Dinners, has expanded from 49 locations in April 2005 to 163 today, thanks to an active franchise program. (Dream Dinners' franchise fee is USD 35,000 plus monthly royalties, and total start-up costs are between USD 175,000 and 250,000.)
Though they vary in style, all of the dinner assembly companies offer essentially the same service: customers schedule a session online, picking meals from a monthly menu. The store, a large commercial-grade kitchen, organizes freshly chopped and prepared ingredients in practical stations. Customers move around the store, assembling a meal at each station by scooping ingredients into freezer bags or disposable baking pans. Meals are easily customized to accommodate personal tastes or diets – the customer just adds more or less fresh garlic or ginger, or substitutes pork for beef. Finally, the packaged meals are clearly labeled with cooking instructions.
The whole process takes about 2 hours, preparing 12 six-serving, or 24 three-serving meals at a cost of around USD 3 per serving. And no time spent shopping for food, planning meals, prepping beforehand and cleaning up afterwards.
Business is booming for a reason: the meal assembly concept offers time-starved consumers (especially working moms) an innovative and convenient way to provide their families with nutritious, tasty, home-cooked meals, with more variety, healthier options and at a lower cost than take-out or frozen supermarket meals.
We haven't spotted similar companies outside the US: time for entrepreneurs to bring fix-and-freeze to busy families across the world! A few examples to get you started: Let's Dish, Sayrelyn's, Super Suppers, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Dinner by Design, Supper Thyme, Supper Solutions, Let's Eat Dinner, and Gourmade Cookery.
This could work in a restaurant setting as well....prepare it, then have your meal with friends....still no clean up ;-)
The concept has morphed into full service delivery. Our delivery service, To Go Services, Inc. (www.togoservices.com), is now delivering for Mix It Up, Inc in the Twin Cities.
In Canada, Toronto, Ontario, SupperWorks opened last year - same concept. They currently have one store, however are in expansion mode. Recent winners of Cadillac Fairview's ARC Award, it is a retail hit!
I live in South Florida and frequent Mr. Food no-fuss meals. The food is awesome! Everything is fresh, they make all of their own sauces, plus it's Mr. Food, how could it not be good!! I've been to other concepts in Jacksonville and Orlando, good, but the food doesn't compare.
I just saw an Anthony Bourdain Travel Special on India. There is a similar trend, however it is opposite on the way it works. The wife prepares a homemade meal which is assembled in a stackable metal cannister. The meal is labeled with a routing number and recipient name. It is picked up about one hour before lunch time by a briggade of people on bicycles who then deliver the meals to the appointed train station drop-off point where they are picked up by the recipient (who walks there from their office). They claim Only one meal in every 3 million is lost or delivered to the wrong person! Also, only 20 people service millions of lunches and the system works very well. The recipient then carries the lunch cannister home that night to repeat the process. The meals are homemade and hot when deliverd. India refuses to go the fast food route, as they feel it is very unhealthy. This is one of the healthiest populations. Food for thought!
It is in Canada, too. Check out http://www.whatsforsupper.ca/
If they hadn't started it, I would have.
There is a great one that just opened here in Bozeman, Montana called Prefix Dinner Studio. Great place
..be bold
My company, Invoke Media, just launched a web application that handles all the front and backend duties of an easy meal prep establishment. It's everything an owner/operator needs. Have a look if you are considering opening up one of these facilities: http://www.eatsolution.com
This is now available in the UK
http://www.dinnersmade.co.uk/index.htm