Meal Assembly Watch

What is the impact of Grab N’ Go?

One aspect of the meal assembly industry that many didn’t take into account was the inability for many people to plan ahead. At least as far as dinner is concerned. Parents seem to have no problem in scheduling practice, recitals, doctor’s appointments, or paying their bills, but when it comes to dinner, even the simple task of defrosting the meal brought the whole concept to a screeching halt. I believe that meal assembly only works you actually take the time and plan ahead.

For example, when you decide to start saving money you don’t just say out loud, “I will now save $20 a month on the electric bill by turning off the lights when I leave the room” and then all of sudden you have $20 extra dollars in the bank. You actually have to take steps to make it happen. You have to turn off the lights, and the computer, and the TV, and the DVD player. Every time you’re not using them. For an entire month.

You also can’t say, “I will now lose 10 pounds by exercising”, go out buy a bicycle and miraculously you are 10 pounds lighter. You actually have to get on the bike and go somewhere. Everyday. For at least a few weeks.

By the same token, you can’t just say, “I’m going to have meals ready for the family when they get home”, go to the local meal prep kitchen, put 12 meals together and go “Behold you are now fed!” You have to defrost the meals. You have to actually cook them. Every time you want to use one.

Most people seem to have no issue with working their schedules around a doctor’s appointment 6 months from now, or even two weeks from now, but when it comes to dinner so they quickly throw their hands in the air, say they can’t do it, or have no time and begin calling someone to help bail them out.

So many comments indicate there is simply no time to make dinner. Finding an extra 30-50 minutes in the day is a lost cause. For others, they simply can’t spend two hours putting together meals at a store. They can find two hours to watch their child play a sport or watch a recital, but two hours to put together meals seems insurmountable and unattainable.

But for those who did commit the time and effort they do see results. Food bills usually lower. For some, they even lose weight. They have meals ready to be placed in the oven or ready to be assembled and heated. That two-hour investment becomes an extra hour per evening they get back.

However, there were many out there who were hesitant and unwilling to pay out such a large amount of money for product they hadn’t experienced first hand. At first there was an introductory offer such as a single meal for a slightly higher price or a bundle of meals at a one-time price cut to get customers interested. And while this did introduce a lot of people to the idea who might not have been willing to try it, customers also wanted to stick with these single servings and slashed prices. 12 meals bad, 1 meal good. “I can’t store 12 meals so this service does me no good”.

Preparing the meals for customers was done as a convenience. For some it was done customers who needed a little assistance getting the meals made. In some cases it was done for free for select customers, for others it was done for a nominal fee. Customer then felt they just didn’t have time to come in anymore, but if someone would make the meals for them they would still be willing to spend the money and buy the food. In fairly short order this became an almost expected service and if not offered by one store it was quickly offered by another as a lure to grab the extra business.

Now, as consumers feel they are even more pressed for time (whether they really are or not is still debatable in my mind) the Grab N’ Go option seems their only choice for getting meals on the table. While this is financially rewarding for the store it’s not really meal assembly and certainly goes against the idea of what the business was started for in the first place (at least in my opinion). This basically enables the customer to continue their inability to plan ahead and actually get more value for money by assembling multiple meals and having them ready to go at home. The make ahead of meal assembly is no different than call ahead for any chain restaurant. The meal is healthier than most fast food take out, but is it any better or more convenient than calling ahead to a restaurant? And what of convenience? At the restaurant the food is already cooked and ready to plate. For meal assembly there is still the additional cooking time.

There is also the definition of Grab N’ Go. Are we talking a single meal, 3, 6, 12? Is the customer grabbing something for just that night, or are they thinking ahead to what the week will bring?

Grab N’ Go does offer customers the ability to sample the food a meal prep kitchen has to offer without a huge monetary investment, but at the same time does it also perpetuate the behavior of not planning ahead? Are they truly invested in the idea and the store with such a low level of entry?

Personally, I don’t think people are busier than they were a few years ago, they just think they are and allow themselves that mindset. Of course there are exceptions to everything – new moms really don’t have any time to themselves. But overall, people simply fail to plan out and manage their time. Dinner always seems to be last on the list. I find it hard to believe that at the end of the day, especially if the kids help, there is not 20-30 minutes to put a meal together and prepare it for the next day. There are thousands of 10-20 minute meal prep recipes out there. But of course, you have to plan to do it, have the ingredients on hand and commit to changing. And that is the main problem.

Did Grab N’ Go hurt the industry? In many ways it’s a double-edged sword. In the beginning it did help to expose people to the idea, allowed them to sample the food and gave them an easy way to experience the concept. But in the long run it still enables customers to fail to plan for dinner and thus the question of “What’s for dinner?” will also be left to the last minute.

The financial troubles at Dream Dinners continue and we now see that some at the top have taken on other jobs to try and keep the business afloat. Catering, building new business relationships or creating a new marketing strategy would seem likely choices, but that’s not how DD operates. They have chosen to sell antiques out of their corporate offices to try and keep things humming along.

Perhaps it the lure of finding a genie’s lamp that can solve all their problems, or the idea of finding a table they can schlep down to Antiques Roadshow. Or maybe it’s an easy distraction to take their minds off the lawsuit, or having to explain why they borrowed $169k from a charity. Or maybe is a soothing calm after twisting the arms of so many store owners for $20k as a thank you for driving them into bankruptcy.

Antiques aren’t the only thing, Dream Dinners has been able to save money by hiring their friends in key roles of the business rather than full-fledged professionals. Is it enough to save the company or will there have to be job cuts among these 25 best friends and neighbors? Many great businesses start as an idea between a couple of friends in a garage late at night and turn into billion dollar empires. Dream Dinners didn’t come from a garage, but they do have an antique store so perhaps they are approaching this from a different angle.

But clearly these little “hiccups” aren’t going to keep the movers and shakers up at Dream Dinners down. They will do whatever it takes, including bringing in all their friends to help run their business, selling junk antiques out the back of the store or even selling lemonade and tomatoes on the side of the road to keep their business going. (I’m just kidding, there is no selling tomatoes and lemonade by the side of the road) Just because owners aren’t paying royalties, growth is a negative and sales are flat doesn’t mean the business isn’t working. They will do everything they can to stick around so you get the golden opportunity to buy one of their franchises with the proven system that works.

Will there soon be a Dream Dinners exclusive television program where we can watch the magic happen and see how the recipes are put together?

Terri Schaub started going to Super Suppers in June. She says she not only loves the fact that her kids are learning how to cook, but it’s also a huge money saver. “I figure a $200 a month savings. You’re not running to the grocery store over and over again,” said Schaub.

Schaub says she’s also saving money with the Super Supper Club, a plan where people can sign up for a certain number of meals per month. Plan prices vary. Schaub’s plan is 13 meals a month, to get her through school nights. “I spend $153 a month here and then my other grocery bill has gone way down,” she said.

Super Suppers franchise is a real super saver

I have to say this one leaves me scratching my head…

“Chocolate Turtle Chex Mix is a great fit in meal assembly kitchens,” said Andy Potter, founder of the Meal Assembly Network. “The sample can be enjoyed by consumers as a snack while assembling meals in the store, or included in pick-up and delivery orders for those consumers who order pre-assembled meals.

Sampling Event for Chocolate Turtle Chex Mix Targets ‘Busy Moms’ Via 500 Meal Assembly Kitchens Nationwide

While a great deal of this article is filled with Dream Dinners worship there are still a few nuggets that are worth reading. An interesting point is the actual admission that store growth is flat. There is also an interesting point on the idea of grab and go versus customers purchasing a full month worth of meals. Did the idea of grab and go help the industry or hurt it? Has a customer been trained to simply grab a single meal on the way home rather than take advantage of more cost savings (even if it meant a larger time investment) to make a full 12 meals and have plenty of meals on hand?

In 2006, enthusiasm for a revival of the family dinner hour was at a peak. Grass-roots groups like Seattle’s Take Back Your Time urged parents to stop working late and cook weeknight meals. Panera Bread, a quick-service restaurant, even set up a separate Web site with tips for families trying to figure out how to eat at home more often.

But it turned out that some meal-assembly franchisees were too optimistic about how many people would want to go to their commercial-style kitchens and prepare a month’s worth of meals at one time, observers say.

Prefling said grab-and-go is not part of the lifestyle the company promotes. In fact, she thinks selling one-time meals would hurt business.

“We are staying away from that (trend) intentionally,” she said. “It’s a short-term answer.”

Dream Dinners Chief Executive Officer Darin Leonard has said it was short-sighted for meal-assembly stores to allow customers to buy one night’s meal when they could be encouraged to sign up for 12.

Franchises offer alternative options to fast food