A new store with a little bit of difference
July 23rd, 2007 | 
Author: Another meal assembly store (Dinner Zen) hits the open market, but there are at least some new ideas with this one. They still stick to the general meal assembly format of coming in to prepare the meals, but they also show a little variation.
Dinner Zen has a focus on freshness- fresh produce and herbs where possible, hand-trimmed lean cuts of meat, and made-from-scratch sauces. Unlike other stores, Dinner Zen has the luxury of a full commercial kitchen. Entrees are made from fresh ingredients free of artificial preservatives, with a focus on trans-fat free alternatives.
Having been open for more than 6 weeks, Dinner Zen has attracted not only busy families but a striking number of singles, younger couples and “empty nesters.” They offer a smaller portion package of 2 to 3 servings. According to Mrs. Crowder, “It used to be stores were filled with moms coming in to prepare meals that had 4 to 6 servings. That’s a lot when it is just you, or you have a small family.
While not new with the stop and go idea of making meals, they do change it up a touch with this:
Customers can also pre-order customized packages of Zen-to-Go meals, and simply stop in and pick up the ready-to-cook meals during designated times. In addition, a daily selection of ready-to-cook entrees are available, both frozen and refrigerated to help solve tonight’s dinnertime dilemma.
http://www.backfence.com/news/showPost.cfm?myComm=RE&bid=8171
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ahead of the holidays
- It’s the beginning of the end (of the year)
- Changing the meal assembly schedule
- I think the customer enticements may have gone a little too far
- Can you compete by not assembling meals for customers?
- Price, convenience pumping up sales of grocers’ prepared meals
- Single’s meal assembly?
- Clichéd ad campaign slogans
- So what’s in store for 2008?
- Is the idea of meal prep dead?
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I don’t see what’s different. There are lots of stores that do “customized” pick up orders. Differentiators are hard to come by in this business!
Gotta go with Indie owner on this one, what’s new about this?
MealBlogger
The main things were the hand trimmed meat and the made from scratch sauces. That seemed a little different than main stream stores. Perhaps other Independent stores go this route as well.
The idea of non frozen pick up entrees also seemed a little different. Normally they would still be frozen. And it also suggest the meals those pick up meals may be different from day to day, sort of a “daily special” mentality.
And in the main article their sessions accommodate 24 people at a time and they have “standardized” hours when they’re open “10 am – 8 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 9 am – 3 pm Saturday”.
Again, nothing earth shattering, but a little bit of a difference from the cookie cutter mold of most other stores.
Oh, another thing struck me, I wish they would have given more detail on what they constitute as a “full commercial kitchen”… Are they cooking the meals before delivery?
No, they don’t cook the meals. All of the independent stores that I know of trim fresh proteins. Well, I guess a few use frozen chicken breasts.
I would think a full kitchen here means they also have an oven and stovetop, but I’m sure it’s not a “full commercial kitchen”–there’s no need for that. In our store we have a small convection oven and 2 commercial burners–for sauces, sauteeing mushrooms, pasta, etc. And while I wanted a full stovetop and oven before we opened, I’m really glad we didn’t go that route.
I figured “full commercial kitchen” might have been a little creative license. I can’t see any reason for a store like this to have a true commercial kitchen.
An oven and some burners would certainly make sense, but that’s standard faire for all stores.
Plus if you start putting in that kind of equipment you might give the impression of going from a store that assembles meals for people to cook at home, to making and cooking the meals right there in the store.
Hi,
You are correct, there are quite a few stores who offer bits and pieces and or the whole shabang as we have advertised it, however, not too many who advertise it in such a way. Thus far into our opening, our single entree pick up and to go business has accounted for just over 25% of our revenue.
If you hand trim your meat, you should say you hand trim your meat. Having been to dozens of stores here and around the country, I can assure you there are A LOT of stores that do not trim their meats or provide mainly frozen ingredients– from independent to franchise.
As for our full kitchen, we have a full size convection oven, a 6 burner gas range, a small countertop convection oven, 20 qt mixer (for our made from scratch sauces), slicer, commercial dicer, etc.
It actually isn’t correct to say that an oven and burner are standard fare for all stores.
We’ve already received numerous requests for catering, though haven’t yet taken anyone up on it. Our full size kitchen did however allow us participate in a local taste event and prepare 3000 servings of three different entrees. It was tough but our big oven was pumping it out. Next summer, when we’ve got more experience under our belt, when the summer time lull hits you can rest assured we’ll figure out how to put that full kitchen to good use for catering, etc. We’re in the heart of the dulles technology corridor and have as many people who commute in to the area in a 5 mile radius as live in the 5 mile radius. Corporate catering is a cherry waiting to get picked.
At the end of the day, your typical meal assembly store could get away with not having a full commercial kitchen, about that you are correct. However, given the large number of stores that are closing as fast as they are opening, having a contingency plan in place for what to do with the space when the meal assembly concept is a flop seems like a bright idea.
We could very easily convert to a catering operation or a large buffet for that matter since we have custom built stations with refrigerated drop ins in our 3000 sf space– that could be picked up and replaced with heated stations should we so desire.
Happy to send pics of the store if anyone is interested.
Thanks
Dinner Zen,
Thanks for stopping by and offering more information and insight on your store and how it operates!
I found several of your comments pretty interesting. You certainly have a much larger oven and more burners than I would have thought. A small convection oven, about the size of a large microwave and one burner are more along the lines of what I was expecting. As stated, a single burner certainly has it place for cooking pasta, rice and sautéing.
3000 Sq. ft.? That’s a pretty impressive sized store. A lot of stores I’ve seen have opened with around 1,200 – 1,500 sq. ft. which is considerably too small.
“However, given the large number of stores that are closing as fast as they are opening, having a contingency plan in place for what to do with the space when the meal assembly concept is a flop seems like a bright idea.†And not to play too big a game of semantics, but it’s interesting you chose “when†the meal assembly concept is a flop, rather than “ifâ€â€¦
I couldn’t agree with you more! You could have an interesting idea of meal assembly during part of the year, catering and take during the slower months. That certainly has the potential to give you a leg up on other franchises during those slower summer months when folks just want to grab a few things on their way out of town. You certainly seem to be developing back up plans using the equipment and space you already have.
And as far as pictures go, I would be very interested in seeing the layout of the store. As you can see, I posted the inside shots from the store in New York because of the impressive décor and open layout. By using http:// syntax you should be able to point to the pictures if they’re located on the Internet. I’d be happy to show off a another store!