Meal Assembly Watch

It’s been at least 5 years since I went on vacation, and to be honest I’m not even sure I even went back then. Like so many others I’ve decided to use the 4th as a kickoff to a weeklong vacation. The company I work for is quite insistent that you take the vacation time they give you. As soon as we hit the first of June, I started getting reminders that I hadn’t used any of my vacation time. Since our kids are hitting their final year in high school after the summer this might be the last “family” trip we take together. Hanging out with your parents after you graduate just isn’t cool I suppose. And before anyone asks, you won’t catch me did at some Disney theme park.

While the destination has been set, there are no specific plans. I believe we are going to try and do every touristy thing out there. There will be bike riding, picture taking, cookouts with hamburgers and hotdogs, sitting at picnic tables swatting away flies, complaining about the heat and bugs, and overpaying for the most rudimentary of entertainment.

We have a big July 4th cookout planned for tomorrow and then we are loading up the cars. In an odd sort of way, being cliché about all our plans is somewhat comforting.

Have a safe and exciting 4th!

Perhaps you do it once a week. Perhaps only when you trace those sulfurous odors to your refrigerator’s crisper drawers. But eventually, you toss out spoiled fruits and vegetables. Lots of them. Researchers at the University of Arizona recently spent a year tracking families’ food-use habits. Working with the United States Department of Agriculture, they interviewed the families about their eating habits, collected their grocery receipts, watched them prepare meals, and then sifted through every last discarded lettuce leaf, slice of bread, burger and bean.

The results, reported in 2002, were pretty shocking. The families tossed out an average of 470 pounds of food per year-about 14 percent of all food brought into the home-at an annual cost of $600.

How to stop the waste?

I’d be curious to hear some feedback about the 2009 Meal Prep Conference that just ended? Was anyone able to attend? Were there any good discussions or helpful ideas presented? Considering the state of the industry it would be interesting to hear how many people attended and what kind of topics were discussed.

So the small survey reveals that most owners aren’t actually making any money from their stores. Most owners aren’t even breaking $10k a year, which if you calculate that out comes to around $30 a day. With minimum wage being $6.55 you could work one day a week for 5 hours and make more money than a meal assembly kitchen brings in. A part-time job would allow you to double or even triple the income the MA store brings in.

Plus how much stress and losing your mind do you think there is in working one day a week for 5-6 hours? If you wanted to pace yourself you could do dog sitting for 3 days out of the week and make more money.

For those in this group what are your plans for summer? Are most owners planning to just bite down and push through the summer and see how things turn out? Or are there strategic retreats in the making?

My, my, how the time has flown. Two years have come and gone since this site was launched in June 2007. I’m sure many franchisors see that as a black day in history. But look at how things have changed, and not really for the better. Half the stores in the industry are now gone, dozens of companies have packed up, and millions of dollars have been lost. And from where I’m sitting, it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.

Here we are at that time of year when this industry grinds to a halt. Normally the proceeds from the first half of the year pull and owner through the lean time, but now things feel like they’re lean all over.

It’s been a rough two years to be sure. Things were rocky before the economy turned on its ear and collapsed like a drunken celebrity, now it seems everyone is in distress. From the soon to be defunct car companies to the already defunct banks and dozens of other businesses in-between, layoffs in ever sector of business are common place and being displaced is almost a fact of life. It’s hard for people to know where their money is coming from let alone their next meal.

And of course I have been less than visible on this site over the past few months. Fortunately, the company I work for is still very busy and there is plenty of work to go around. I’ve had my head down just trying to keep up and don’t have the same time to dedicate as I used to. But it’s a good problem to have and is certainly better than the alternative of holding a sign on the street corner.

I still read and scan though dozens of articles that might be related to this industry, but the news and information is few and far between. There is very little press out there any more. Maybe there isn’t a whole more to say about this industry. Have people put the idea out of the their minds or are they just sitting back and waiting to see if it will actually make it through another year?

I may not be as vocal as I used to be, but I’m still here and the site certainly isn’t going anywhere. I dare say it will outlast the industry it speaks of.