Meal Assembly Watch

It’s not really all that surprising but it looks like most owners aren’t looking forward to the summer months. 92% of owners believe they will experience some sort of decline in the number of customers who walk through the door.

Perhaps some good news as Dream Dinners finally realizes that their session based sales approach is probably not the way to go and begins to allow owners the ability to pre-make meals. Will this be a little too little a little too late or will this help a few customers limp along?

And not to be a dark cloud, but is it worth it to soldier on and try get through the summer months or is it better to plan a strategic retreat before the downward spiral begins? It’s been a rough few months just to get to this point and we are just about to hit the steep incline. Summer brings a long dry spell so to speak. There is some talk in the discussion forums that the grab and go option is helping a little and bringing in a few additional customers. Can that be enough to sustain a business? And what can we expect after the summer months? If you recall last summer, there was the expectation that the back to school shopping would take hold any day and customers would once again get into the swing of school and sports and meal assembly would come full circle back to the forefront.

But it didn’t quite work out that way. That back to school rush never quite materialized and that slow summer trickle stayed about the same until the end of the year. But, unlike the previous years, the average customer didn’t take up the offer of having their local meal prep kitchen make the holiday meal. Many opted to handle the task on their own leaving many a meal assembly owner with plenty of stock and nowhere to put it.

On the flip side, companies like Dream Dinners seem to be hitting the same financial issues that store owners have been facing. It appears closures are starting to take their toll and we can only hope that store openings have slowed as reasonable folks investigate this industry further. I predict Super Suppers, MGFK, Dinner A’Fare and Dinner by Design are all in the same position; their revenue stream – selling franchises – has begun to dry up and they need to figure out how to make real money. So with the expectation of slow sales for the summer beginning to creep in, where will that leave owners and by extension where is that going to leave the franchisors? Do they have what it takes to make it through the summer or will we see them putting a closed sign on the door?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Surviving the Summer Months
• How did January work out for you?
• When will Dream Dinners file bankruptcy?
• Summer is officially over!
• It’s The Beginning Of The End
• Survey Says: Most people want out of meal assembly
• Can meal assembly be profitable?
• The end of the line for Super Suppers
• The decline continues
• The Ghost of Meal Assembly Past, Present and Future