Meal Assembly Watch

We know the end is near for Super Suppers, so how much longer does Dream Dinners have? To say it won’t happen would be silly, they have to be losing money like a sieve. They’ve gone from 220 stores down to 130, which is a ton of lost revenue. And out of those 130 remaining how many of those are close to closing and not paying royalty payments? Further, if the average store owner gets less than 100 customers through the door per month (and 100 seems high these days) how much could the franchise actually be making in royalty payments per month?

Further still, how many people has Dream Dinners let go? Back in the middle of 2008 they rumored to have dropped the axe and dispatched multiple people from the top, most in key roles of recipe development. Since they can’t exactly offer high dollar salaries have they replace these people? Or have they decided to use their dietician to rework all the recipes so they can offer them again without having to really spend anything? Did Dream Dinners actually crank out dozens of new, never before seen recipes in 2009?

And even if Dream Dinners didn’t fold up in 2009, they aren’t expanding their reach and haven’t since 2007. Two years of zero growth is always a bad thing in business.Their little meal prep world is shrinking around them and each month they have fewer stores open. Less stores, less income.

Let’s look to those at the top. Darin certainly hasn’t been their savior. His multi-pronged, multi-point plan of attack looks like a pretty big dud to me. You bring in a new CEO and he oversees the closing of about 100 stores? That’s gotta look good on a resume!

I’m sure Dream Dinners will say their new Dinners for Life program is a great success since over 50 of their stores are now offering this to their customers. First off, are they sure this is even their idea? Second, 50 stores is less than half of what they have left. Third, Dinners for Life comes with membership fees which I’m sure is a huge turn off for all their customers. Finally, this is an option within current stores, they still haven’t opened any new stores because of this idea, so how much revenue is this really bringing in? My guess? None. To me it’s just a way to distance themselves from the lawsuits of the parent company. The heart healthy menu wasn’t a million dollar idea, what’s the expectation for this one?

Dream Dinners is struggling for sure. It’ll be interesting to see how they fair in the first few months of 2010. I wouldn’t be surprised to see owners cast off the shackles of franchise ownership and start the new year out from underneath this business. I bet we see a surge in store closings.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Dream Dinners Distributes Liz Claiborne Magazine
• Dream Dinners creates Dinners for Life
• Dinner for Life – Now with ridiculous membership fees
• Meal Assembly Cookbooks…
• Dream Dinners of Fort Mill Celebrates Three Year Anniversary
• Meal Prep Blunders of 2009
• Redbook partners with Dream Dinners
• Last time I looked it was February
• There’s a sucker born every minute
• Dinners for Life Exhibiting at Diabetic Conferences

One Response to “When will Dream Dinners file bankruptcy?”