Meal Assembly Watch

Archive for the ‘Franchise’ Category

Even burger places are having a hard time making things work in this economy. And they have huge marketing budgets and people who know what they’re doing.

Burger King has struggled in recent years with both the recession and McDonald’sCorp., its biggest rival. Franchisees and analysts blame the chain’s problems on scant menu development, flawed pricing and an overworked strategy of focusing on so-called super fans, people aged 18 to 34 years old who account for half of all visits to Burger King outlets but have been disproportionately hurt by the economic slump.

Burger King Sold For $3.26 Billion To Private Investors

Here ’s another question you can ask yourself, where are the meal assembly millionaires? A good franchise should be able to propel you into the millionaire category within 5-7 years, don’t you think? Since meal prep has been around since 2003, and the franchise sold the dickens out of this concept, where are the slew of millionaires we should be hearing about by now? After 7 years there should be dozens of owners across the country that are ready to retire and live the life of luxury from the profits of their stores. You have to be out there and I’d love to hear how you did it.

On a more serious note, I doubt most owners are making a profit from their stores let alone something that even comes close to a teacher’s salary. I still firmly believe that if you’re not personally making at least $40k a year as a salary for yourself then you need to start devising an escape plan.

So, who’s gotten rich of meal assembly? Where are ya?

Recently I’ve seen some new articles crop up speaking the virtues of meal assembly and how it can make meal time easier and help people lose ridiculous amounts of weight. Putting that misinformation aside I hope people aren’t getting the idea that now is the right time to invest in a meal prep business. Just because you can pick up a store at a bargain basement price doesn’t mean you should jump on board and get one.

It’s been awhile since the point has been made so now is a good time to go back and show what buying a meal prep franchise WON’T GET YOU

- You don’t get a national marketing campaign
- You don’t get a franchise run by people with decades or even years worth of restaurant experience
- You don’t get discounted prices because your franchise buys in bulk
- You won’t see your company name listed in dozens of magazines and flyers unless YOU pay for it
- You won’t get handcrafted recipes put together by culinary experts. What you will get is a slew of recipes lifted from other published sources and submitted recipes from contests.
- You won’t get assistance from other store owners in your area since you’re in competition with each other
- You’re going to spend all your time in your store struggling to make a living instead of spending time with your family
- You don’t get guaranteed system for making money
- You won’t be working less hours than a 9-5 job in Corporate America
- You don’t get a repeatable system for bringing in customers
- You won’t be making more than the teacher who watches over your children and gets three months off every summer

Just keep those few things in mind if you have some wild notion that now might be the time to swoop in and make a run with a meal prep store.

Would it be considered ironic or laughable that Super Suppers will be closing down their corporate run store because they can’t make any money with it? As we’ve clearly seen, even the so called creators of this industry can’t make any money from an actual store, they can only raise capital by selling franchises to anyone who asks and then gouging them again when their store fails. Capitalism is a fine thing isn’t it?

So where does this leave Super Suppers? With an ever shrinking base of open stores it’s hard to imagine that the corporate office really serves any purpose, if there’s even a corporate office any more.

We all know Judie has abandoned the franchise for greener pastures so who’s at the helm? Is anyone actually steering this ship?

Are current owners looking to try and become independent owners or like the corporate owners themselves, just give up on the idea of meal assembly altogether?

As it stands now, Super Suppers is right on track to be dissolved well before the end of the year. Since we’re right on the cusp of Spring and then the long slow Summer, it seems like dark times ahead for this franchise and it’s remaining owners.

Seriously, if you don’t have an escape plan yet, you need to get one. This franchise is doomed, you need to protect yourself and minimize the damage. You might be able to make some headway as an independent but you need to have more than just hopes and dreams and the idea that since all the other stores are gone you can make money now. No one’s made money up to this point, why should the future be different?

From where I sit, this marks the end for Super Suppers.

The first month of the year has come and gone, so how did things work out for you? Did the Dream Dinners blog bring in lots of new customers for you? Did Stephanie’s riveting blog give you inspirational ideas to pass along to your customers? Did Judie’s TV show make you feel better about buying into her franchise? I’m sure it did!

And how did the rest of the country fair? Sales are up, right? Well, no. More stores are now opening, right? Well, leeches are suckering in their friends and customers to buy into this dog and pony show.

According to some new figures it should come as no surprise that Dream Dinners and Super Suppers both had more store closings. Super Suppers is just inches away from dropping below 50 stores. Through miracle of miracle, Dream Dinners is somehow managing to stay afloat with 130 stores. Perhaps those Dream Dinners owners just can’t admit defeat. But in the long run 16 more companies failed and another 55 outlets shut down (more than likely the owners went bankrupt over it).

Personally, I think the numbers are much lower. I’d be surprised if Dream Dinners still had a 100 stores actually operating. They love to play fast and loose with their numbers and in the past they had no problem listing a store that had long since gone out of business as "temporarily closed". And considering they’ve actually removed the franchise link from their sites I would venture to say they aren’t selling any more locations. Probably haven’t sold a new franchise in quite awhile.

Super Suppers is on the outs. I think by the time the summer months roll around, Super Suppers will be nothing more than a bad memory.

And what about all those other franchises we used to hear about? Exactly.

As you might expect, 2010 is starting off with more of the same for meal assembly owners.