To say that companies like Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, The Dinner A’Fare and the rest of the meal prep gang are franchises is becoming an insult to the real franchises out there. Based on the way these businesses are run, how much money they lose and how their importance to the busy family decreases each day, they have become nothing more than an expensive recipe club or glorified hobby. Hobby or not, it will more than likely send you to the poor house if you can’t get away fast enough.

Let’s take a step back for a moment and ask, why do Dream Dinners and Super Suppers claim they’re a franchise? What exactly do they offer that puts them in the same league as other more profitable food service businesses? As a business, what do they offer that is similar and comparable to McDonald’s, Papa John’s or one of the hundreds of other food related franchises out there?

A couple of thoughts come to mind:

Normally when you buy into a franchise you get a method or system that has been shown to provide a way to make money for a product people want.

A business that franchises itself has usually proven that it can withstand competitors in the same field, offers superior quality and differentiates themselves from competitors.

A franchise normally offers national marketing and training. This marketing is non-stop and all stores under the brand name reap the benefit of the name recognition. Everybody pays, everybody wins.

The franchise is normally able to use their superior buying power to negotiate cheaper prices on goods and materials. Owners are able to get their products at lower than market costs and buying in bulk allows them to save money even as costs of goods rise.

The upper management of a franchise is usually seasoned professionals with years of experience in business, marketing, management and retails sales. People are brought in that enhance the business methodology and specialize in aspects that will help the business grow.

All you have to do is read a couple of examples of what a franchise is supposed to offer and you realize that none of the meal assembly companies even come close. Even if you just read the short list above you can see some serious deficiencies with these companies. Which, if any of these criteria does Dream Dinners or Super Suppers meet?

The mere fact these types of stores can’t handle any sort of competition should be the first warning sign. But moving past that, how do these businesses differentiate themselves? How do they show to the average consumer they have what they need? Truthfully, these companies can’t even properly define or name themselves to the consumer. It’s been 6 years and customers are no more educated about this concept than the day it came out. They’re still confused over how it works and what’s offered. The pricing confuses them, the portion size, the instructions, the process, the whole thing. And even when they do try it out, there is no incentive to keep going back. The price isn’t a lure, the convenience isn’t overwhelming and the timesavings is negligible. Grabbing frozen meals on the drive home and then waiting an hour for them to cook isn’t on the hit list for most consumers.

Is there constant on the job training with experts from the corporate office coming in to cut costs, streamline the process and solve issues? For the average meal prep owner you get a quick overview of how to put your food away and web based training on how to use the ordering system and then you are left to your own devices to make it work for your store.

Do you get to take advantage of the national marketing that keeps customers informed of your business and how it can help them? That question isn’t even worth answering it’s so ridiculous. This falls to the owners and they are left to use their own money to generate advertising. If you count plastic trinkets and snack packets as advertising then with meal assembly you’ve hit a gold mine.

And the management team? I think that speaks for itself. Do you want to be part of a business where hair dressers head up IT, neighbors handle the accounting, and friends put the website together? That’s a great way to start a business out of your garage, in the 80s, but when you start asking people for money, I think you need something better than that.

And the CEO? Well, those are from outside companies too. But have any of them actually run a meal assembly store or been part of the food business? No, that kind of background would be nice, but isn’t represented here.

But the founders are still calling the shots and making the business successful, right? Judie Byrd has ditched Super Suppers to focus on her career as a cooking show host. Stephanie and Tina have turned over the reigns to a guy who sold overpriced washing machines – and is proud of it. Julie Duffy sold off her business and watched it crash and burn a year later. Marcia Hale sold off her business a few months ago and as readers know, it’s been less than smooth sailing for those owners. MealMakers shut their doors months ago and skipped across the border with sacks full of money. In a move that still confuses many, Entrée Vous is now part of Super Suppers, but as we’ve seen, buyouts don’t save stores.

And what of the carefully planned business model that allows the purchaser a better than average chance of making money? Well that system has been changed every month for the last two years. Each month is a new trick, a new gimmick and the business model you follow today probably won’t be the one you’re following two months from now. And who pays for all the changes, retooling and reordering? Why you do of course.

So what do you get for the $300k you invest in the meal prep industry? Well, you get some recipes - recipes that for the most part are slight variations of ones that have been printed in books and magazines for years. I’m sure there used to be some recipe back in the good old days of meal assembly, but the test kitchens of today have been so scaled back that most businesses don’t even have one anymore. It seems they’re relying on buying other companies to get a new influx of recipes. Or there is one lackey who scans the web looking for good recipes they can slap their name on.

So how do these meal assembly businesses compare when stacked against their more seasoned brethren? What qualities do they excel at? What market have they conquered for the would-be owner? What marketing style do they call their own? What consumer demographic do they appeal to that other business have failed to penetrate? When can you expect a return on your investment and what benefits can you expect to receive from that investment? And finally what liquid assets does the franchise have to make sure they are financially strong should market conditions change?

When all is said and done, the meal prep business doesn’t offer anything that resembles what a franchise should offer. It’s business that can’t seem to define itself and can’t seem to find the right customer base. If cooking is your hobby then you would be better advised to spent $1500 at Amazon.com to buy dozens of cookbooks that cater to every taste you have. Or you could enjoy the thrill of the hunt and browse through the millions of recipes that are available for free on the Internet and spend your nights and weekends engaged in recipe testing and building up a selection of favorite dishes that will serve you throughout the year.

If for some reason you do have $300k you just want to give away, help out your local homeless shelter, women’s shelter, foster care program or even your local school or library. Your money would be much better spent and change a hell of a lot of lives. Plus you will feel a lot better about yourself for doing that than opening a meal prep business.

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