A dream dinner may bring to mind a free steak for some people. Dream Dinners is also a quickly rising food franchise business. It involves prepared menus and locations where people go to receive instruction in cooking them. Yes, you’re probably saying “why didn’t I come up with that one”?
People are very busy today. Work and school and a variety of other activities for family members mean it’s harder than ever to eat well . Even the terrific pre-made food available today in stores isn’t quite the same as home cooking. But doesn’t something have to give when time is on a budget? This franchise lives in that space.
It works something like this. Patrons go in and select some or all of 14 meals from a menu. They then pay for the number of servings desired. Then they cook it while still at the shop. This can be accomplished either in public or private sessions, with cooking pros directing the preparation action. This is a lot like a chef at a restaurant coming out to direct the diners in preparing the food.
The meals are a lot less expensive than it would appear when the concept is first described. The more people buy the more they save, so all 14 meals are about $3.50 per serving not counting sides and other items like salads. A total of about $5 per serving isn’t a bad price to pay for a good meal. Not only are the meals provided, but the family can enjoy the cooking experience in a setting where it’s ensured that they’ll prepare the meals the right way.
These locations are franchises people own. It has its problems. The food and menus are fine, but the franchise owners may have a problem. Dream Dinners was profiled in March of ’08 by Forbes. The story didn’t look good for the company. The new concept quickly gained popularity and attracted would be business owners. The business plan came into question when many of the franchises went out of business after a short time. The article detailed what was described as misrepresentations of the profit possible, and thus the overall valuation of franchises.
That’s something for the company to handle. For patrons, it’s fun to handle the cooking chores while working off of a wonderful menu.
