Meal-preparation services quickly cool off
Here is another one that gives more of the realities of the business and the problems owners are facing.
More than a dozen locations — some chains, some independently owned — opened their doors to customers throughout the region. Folks forked over money for use of a borrowed kitchen and dinner ingredients already prepped for assembly. With the help of instructions, a variety of meals could be put together and taken home to the family freezer — from which they could be quickly popped into the oven on a busy night. No grocery shopping beforehand, no major cleanup afterward.But many of those meal-assembly businesses are now closed or are struggling to continue attracting customers.
Blame it on the lean economy — or on a concept that some say has already grown stale.
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August 15th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Well that has got to be a first, EMPA- Bert Vermuelen’s name is no where to be found in the article!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Interesting quote by Let’s Eat pres on market saturation and the challenges for the mom-and-pop organization “… the market for meal assembly quickly became saturated, especially with smaller, independent businesses. ”
Guess the zors don’t consider it to be saturation when it’s their franchise with locations 5-7 miles apart.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
This is what I find most interesting about these two articles, from polar opposites in demographics:
Orlando Sentinel:
“Most consumers looked at this as a luxury,” retail analyst Britt Beemer said.
“Blame it on the lean economy — or on a concept that some say has already grown stale.”
orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-mealprep1508aug15,0,3735567.story
And from the Indiana paper
“She is unsure about the future of the meal prep industry.
“The consumers who kept coming back are in recession-proof industries — they are nurses or lawyers or their husbands are doctors,” Hille says. “Part of it is being unable to get people to change their habits of going to the grocery store or stopping at a restaurant.”
She doesn’t mention soccer moms which is interesting.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/Biz/808150418/1013/BizBy HEIDI PRESCOTT Tribune Columnist
Both writers come to the same conclusion, from different parts of the country based on the evidence-stores closures. The meal assembly industry seems to be winding down.
The statement by a Super Suppers store owner “That this is a “fad”- and from the other store owner that her customers were from a “recession-proof demographic.”
August 16th, 2008 at 8:41 am
The other conclusion I get is that the concept is best received by those with money (even without an economic slowdown)…and when I say money, not the range of 60k - 100k we were originally advised was our target market. In retrospect, when I think of our best customers who came in and really bought (not the reliable low margin customers that made 3 -6 meals a month and nothing else), it was the truly well off wives….and from THEIR view point, it was a money saver.
That kinda narrows down your potential customer base pretty quickly.
Was that true in part or whole for you ATC?
August 16th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Very true, ChefG- My most frequent and best customer were Dr.s wives & Drs.(gals) lawyers(gals) & their wives and DINK’s-(dual income no kids). Not too many soccer moms or anyone making under 100k.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Ditto
In fact, we purposely selected our location because it was 1 minute from a sports complex that had 8 sheets of ice and 10+ soccer fields. What a flop THAT was! Even when we offered free assembly, no one took us up on it. We’d hear the same line over and over - “…it’s so boring over there (complex), I can come over here and make meals!…” but they’d never show up. Our most loyal customers were also exactly as you described: wives of professionals, some executive level professional women, dual income no kids, etc.