| Author |
Message |
    
Pippi
Supporter
Username: Pippi
Post Number: 1401
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2005 - 9:34 am: |     |
This sounds like it could be a cool concept, but alas, there are none locally.
Any entrepreneurial MOLer's out there?
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=46789
NEW NATIONAL TREND: MEAL ASSEMBLY KITCHENS
Do-It-Yourself Stores Allow Customers to Produce a Month of Dinners in Two Hours
November 16, 2005
By Kate MacArthur
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Fed up with frozen meals, fast food and takeout, women are heading back to the kitchen in droves. Well, actually, in groups.
The Easy Meal Preparation Association estimates there are now 500 mass assembly retail kitchen outlets in operation across the country.
Sporting June Cleaver-pleasing names like Dream Dinners, Dinners Together and Simply Homemade, hundreds of fresh-meal-assembly operations are cropping up nationwide, tapping into busy women’s guilt over home cooking and even putting a practical spin on the girls’ night out.
At these storefronts, women whip up a month’s worth of dinners in a single, two-hour session without worrying about planning, shopping, chopping, cleaning up or even cooking. Think Rachael Ray meets the automotive assembly line.
Born out of freezer cooking clubs in Washington state, about 500 storefronts are open today nationwide, said Bert Vermeulen, president of the Ohio-based Easy Meal Preparation Association. The popularity of the concept is a natural in a country for better or worse reliant on Stouffer’s and Hamburger Helper. While NPD Group reports that 80% of meals are eaten and prepared at home, one-third of those are ready-to-eat or frozen products.
Here’s how it works: For each dish, the customer measures and scoops pre-cut, pre-cooked ingredients into a resealable bag or aluminum pan and labels each entree to take home. Meals run the gamut from lasagna to a sausage, chicken and white-bean cassoulet, and cost anywhere from $80 for six dishes to $312 for a dozen high-end entrees and desserts to feed a family of four to six. The average “class,” or meal-prep session, costs about $200 for 72 servings.
Though some men show up, it’s clear they’re not the target. “We’d been tiptoeing around this whole issue with like, ‘For every busy family out there,’ and finally we said, ‘Who are we kidding?’” said Julie Duffy, a former Discover Financial marketing executive who is president and founder of Dinner By Design, a concept with 15 kitchens in Chicago’s north suburbs. “It’s the woman who is still responsible mainly to get dinner on the table.”.
The meal assembly kitchens have also proved popular becuase of the socializing venue they provide. Customers often come in small groups and enjoy what one operator called 'two guilt-free hours out with girlfriends.'
Indeed, women spend twice as much time on meal preparation as men, though a lot less than they did historically. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the 1920s and '30s, women spent an average of 30 to 42 hours per week planning and preparing food. Today, they spend 1.2 hours a day.
“Luxury today is defined in time,” said Robin Domeniconi, president and publisher of Time Inc.’s Real Simple, which entertains advertisers by hosting sessions at such meal-assembly kitchens. “This is a fantastic solution to these problems.”
Food isn’t the only draw. Naperville, Ill.-based Dinners Together heavily reinforces the social factor with parties around Bunco dice-game nights, baby showers and book clubs. Customers get “two guilt-free hours out with girlfriends, yet it’s very productive for your family,” said Deb Scheckel, owner of the independent store, which has a “living room” area where women can chat and drink wine as a break from the assembly line.
Former caterer Ms. Allen and partner Tina Kuna started Dream Dinners and were the first to standardize the concept, in January 2002. After Working Mother profiled the company, it quickly grew, and in June 2003 began franchising. It now has 95 storefronts (three company-owned) and 150 planned franchises.
Cindy Hradil, co-owner of Simply Homemade, a former brand-management executive for ConAgra and Kellogg Co., has “over 3,500 customers in a year.” One-fourth are novice cooks, so she prides herself on offering entrees that sound intimidating but are really easy. “We provide the step-by-step cooking instructions,” she said. “If you can grill, you can grill salmon on a cedar plank.”
But despite its convenience, Barton A. Weitz, professor of marketing at the University of Florida, is skeptical of the long-term appeal: “Does just picking up stuff from containers and putting it into another container make you feel like you prepared the meals?” |
Pippi
Supporter
Username: Pippi
Post Number: 1416
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, November 18, 2005 - 4:11 pm: | |
I must be the only lazy non-cook who found this intriguing!
 |
Virtual It Girl
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 3466
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, November 18, 2005 - 4:29 pm: | |
I think I read about something like this where you actually cooked the meals to freeze them. That would be cool, if you had a big freezer. But think about it, if you took 2-3 straight hours out of a Sunday, you could easily make enough meals for the week and freeze extras. The trick is finding the time. (My mom prepares food for the week almost every Sunday.)
That said, I am sure it would be a viable business. I can't believe what people pay for! |
Amie Brockway-Metcalf
Citizen
Username: Amie
Post Number: 446
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 8:27 pm: | |
There's one of these over on rt 22; one of my girlfriends wants to go. I actually like cooking every night after the kiddo goes to bed, but with #2 due any day now, I think we'll be defrosting more than chopping/assembling/cooking. |
Phil
Supporter
Username: Barleyrooty
Post Number: 981
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 9:49 pm: | |
I have a friend who loves the one she goes to in Baltimore - didn't know there was one here. She points out the advantages - you can try out recipes without buying the inevitable 2 pots of seasonings you'll never use again, and if you like or dislike an ingredient, e.g. garlic, you can add more or leave it out. If you find a recipe you really like, you can always shop for it yourself next time.
|
not again...
Citizen
Username: Notagain
Post Number: 10
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 3:24 pm: | |
Amie, do you know the name of the one on Rt 22? I would definitely try it. Virtual, yes, I could do it at home, but no one is going to do all the shopping, chopping and cleaning up for me! I will pay for that, no problem. |
Amie Brockway-Metcalf
Citizen
Username: Amie
Post Number: 449
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 6:55 pm: | |
I can't remember, for the life of me, and I even googled it last night before posting. It was around $200 for 7 meals that fed 4 people each, which really isn't that bad. Sounded like a fun thing to do with some friends and a bottle of wine. |
Eric Wertheim
Citizen
Username: Bub
Post Number: 141
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 7:33 pm: | |
I didnt realize what it was at the time but I'm pretty sure there is one in the shopping center on Route 10 where Dick's sporting Goods is. |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page