This comment from the Franchise Pundit made me stop and think for a moment.
How
are meal assembly franchises different? With
so many popping up on an almost daily basis you would expect an almost infinite variety, catering to every need and niche out there. With so many unique owners, so many different points of view, and influences from coast, our choices in what we serve for dinner should be an endless variety where we could go to a different store every month and have meals we’ve never experienced before. It should be like a culinary explosion going across the nation.
But is that what we really have?Most stores use the same alliteration and have catchy names that have something to do with dinner, or supper or meals. Or they use clever word play involving thyme, dishes or plates.
But names aside, how do they differ and what makes them special?
The basic premise is to save time and money by purchasing and making meals on the bulk principal. Most stores offer the big money saving plan of preparing 12 meals for a reasonable cost. You can also spend more and get less by buying 6 meals, perhaps even 3 and in some cases, just the single meal for the night.
Each offers a menu of 12-14 recipes which you put together. And the basic idea is to move from station to station using bags and pans as needed to put the meal together. Sometimes you move to the food, sometimes the food comes to you, but the idea is the same.
From all the menus I’ve seen they offer choices that compliment and emulate each other. You can plan on chicken, beef, pork, fish and pasta. In some cases deserts are offered, specialty sandwiches, breakfast/brunch items and some side items like rice, pasta, bread/rolls and other items that compliment the meals. With each store offering different recipes you get a variety to be sure, but at the heart, the core ingredients and spices remain the same. Different combinations, but not quite the exotic niche filled market that so many stores
could afford.
Most stores adorn their commercial insides with homey décor and the ever popular, red and yellow walls. Call it burgundy and goldenrod, or whatever patented name you like, it’s still yellow and red to me. Sure, there is variation, but not the individuality you would expect.
To compliment their social atmosphere, almost all stores provide some sort of party you can attend. Reserve a session and just you and your friends can have the place all to yourselves. Make meals, have some wine, talk about the days events. So many things accomplished in such a small amount of time.
Another main goal was to save time. Prepare 12 meals and you’re done for the month. When you “get caught unaware” you still have a home cooked meal ready to go. As you may have guessed, fast wasn’t fast enough and people no longer have time to even make their 12 or 6 meals anymore. This lead most stores to offer the option of assembling meals for you sometimes for a small fee, sometime just out of good neighborly love. (Not to mention they don’t want you to cancel the order and go somewhere else).
A large claim of difference is the quality of food.
Our food is fresher! We have better ingredients! An excellent way to separate yourself, but are these true claims? Most meal assembly stores, restaurants and grocery stores are serviced by Sysco. Are they saying the Sysco quality is poor? That their food selection and quality isn’t on par with what they can purchase themselves? If you’re not going through Sysco, then does Food Services of America (FSA) or US Foods not have the quality ingredients you need? It would seem you’re getting food from one of them. And if you’re not getting it directly, whoever you buy from more than likely is. Sams, Costco, BJs, etc are all working with the same vendors the rest of us are.
Let’s continue with the “fresher” moniker for a moment. Does buying it from the grocery store next door or down the street mean its fresher? Sysco and FSA deliver there too. “We use a growers market” I hear being shouted from the back row. A wonderful way to support local growers, and indeed you can get fresh vegetables to enhance the meals. But can you rely on this to serve up 50 meals a day for a week? Do they actually have enough to support a busy franchise? If you only have a few sessions a week and can get enough from this supplier that’s great, but what about the meat, fish, chicken and pork? That’s not from the growers market.
So maybe a store can claim freshness of vegetables (in some rare cases), but the meat is going to be frozen (
or at least it should be!).
Customer service is indeed the backbone of any store or business. But this has nothing to do with the franchise and everything to do with who you’re lucky enough to hire. Are you lucky enough to hire culinary students who want to make food their life’s pursuit? Are you able to get wait staff who know how to work quickly and efficiently and keep everything tidy? Customer service will make or break a company, but it has nothing to do with the franchise.
Convenience might have a played a key role in choosing one location over another. If one store was busy, head over to another one. But with multiple stores of each franchise locating in the same area I don’t see this as a factor anymore if it ever was. The idea of a full session should be non-existent. If there were sold out sessions, that’s surely the reasons you have so many additional franchises in an area. And from the session calendars I’ve seen,
there is plenty of room at the inn.
Does it all come down to the recipes? Is this the dividing line? Of course every store says their meals are better. They have a Chef at the helm creating menus just for you. Their recipes are owner tested, customer approved. The recipes they use have been tested, refined, tested again, perfected and made as flavorful and simple as possible. Many have exotic and titillating names that speak of exotic spices, flavorful marinades, a unique blend that will make every dinner special and memorable. There are claims of everyone wanting seconds and meals that will even bring the kids to the table.
I’m not disputing the claims, I’m just saying, everyone makes the same claim. Is this really
The world's greatest cup of coffee?So where does all this leave us? Meal assembly stores have catchy, gimmicky names to try and help us remember who they are. They provide the hope of making meals quickly and easily and will even make the meals for us when we simply can’t make the effort ourselves. They look the same, act the same, they even decorate the same. Book a session, pick your meals, come on in.
As stated, at the end of the day, what makes one meal assembly franchise different from another? Is there
really any difference to the consumer?
