Survey Says: Most people want out of meal assembly
From the survey we took a little while ago, it looks like a majority of people are looking to put meal assembly behind them. In conjunction I have read several forum posts where owners will be calling it quits this month rather than work their way through the slow summer months. Last year was a bit of struggle for most (as summers usually are) but the uncertainty of the economics events we have right now the idea of 3-5 very slow months could be quite daunting for those already on the cusp financially.
There are however, some who would prefer to keep the business going, but do it under their own rules. If they were able to get to away from the rules and inflexibility of the corporate and truly make their own decisions they would be better off. This is actually a higher number than I would have thought, but that does give the impression that meal assembly is working in some areas and with a few tweaks (or maybe a lot of tweaks) it could work or work better in that particular area. So what is the biggest stumbling block for this group? Is it the menu, the system, the inability to provide a certain service, or would ditching those royalty payments each month get things rolling in the right direction again?
And there are a few who are making a go of things under their current system. The right location? The right menu? The right mix of walk up traffic and sessions? What makes this group of owners content?
The interesting question (at least to me) would be how those numbers would come out had the same question been asked a year ago? Would more people be ready to stay the course or perhaps try things on their own?
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June 10th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
As of June 15, all 5 meal assembly businesses in our community will be closed for good. Dream Dinners lasted 13 months, Dinner Studio lasted 17 months, MGFK lasted 8 months, Dinner A’Fare closed after a whopping 3 months. Finally, Super Suppers will close this Saturday, June 15 after 19 months. Very sad. I guess the survey says that yes indeed, most people want out of meal assembly all together.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I wish all well that are trying to stay in business. I hope they are doing it for the right reasons instead of the lack of knowing what else to do or just being so emotionally involved that they are blind to their own financials. We are guilty of holding on a bit longer than we should have, but once we made the final decision, we have been so relieved. It’s kind of like a funeral in that people are saying nothing but nice things about us now that they know we are closing - even people who have never walked through our doors before.
My big question is how are people going to stay in business with the onslaught of the typical slow summer months, the worsening economy and now with the midwest being so flooded? Who knows what will happen to food costs? I hate that we are closing our store, but I’m so glad that we made the decision to do it now instead of later.
Kaye