For budding food entrepreneurs out there, a number of market-driven initiatives are beginning to make an impact on the American food scene. Apart from Dinners by Design, based in the midwest, there are also competitor franchises Super Suppers and Dream Dinners - "Life Just Got Easier". Menus change monthly.
How does it work?
The company posts a new selection of menus to its website at the start of each month. You, the customer, go to the website and select a given minimum number of meals. In the case of Dinner by Design, the minimum is twelve. You book a time to go to your local Dinner by Design store. You arrive there to be greeted by your own personal assistant.
Over the next two hours you prepare all the ingredients for your 12 meals. You do not cook. You simply bag them.
At any time during the two hours you have a chat with the other folks there about how great it is to eat homely food. Then you go home and freeze each meal, apart from the one you want to cook that night.
Dinner by Design cleans up after you.
For more information see:
www.dinnerbydesignkitchen.com.
www.supersuppers.com
www.dreamdinners.com
All three work by taking care of meal planning, ingredient sourcing and cleaning up - you are left only with the dishes to put in the dishwasher.
Information on the London Hospital Food Programme can be found at www.sustain.org.