- Dream Dinners
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Dream Dinners is a US food preparation franchise operation based in Snohomish, Washington. It specializes in providing space to prepare meals ahead of time for freezing and cooking at home. There are currently 105 locations in 30 states in the United States[1]. The company was founded by Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna and was the first in the category of "Meal Assembly" franchises.
The concept of Dream Dinners is to give busy families the opportunity to prepare home-cooked meals ahead of time. Each month a seventeen-item menu is made available throughout the chain. The meals are purchased by servings. A medium size meal is (3) servings while a large size meal is (6) servings. Customers are offered either public or private session to prepare these meals, and the store provides recipes and all required ingredients. A standard session provides all seventeen meals from that month's menu, and the firm's official website suggests a cost of "approximately $240, or under $3.50 per serving".
Side dishes and salads for each meal are offered but not included in the base price. The more servings a customer orders in a single session, the lower the per-serving cost. Individual franchise locations may offer additional further discounts. Stores further offer a brochure describing a "self catering" service for parties.
Dream Dinners has been featured in the Oprah magazine, and was profiled by the Food Network show Recipe for Success.
Controversy
Forbes Magazine profiled Dream Dinners and other franchise businesses in the meal assembly category in a May issue. The article dated May 8, 2008 described the segment's rapid expansion followed by a precipitous rate of closings of the businesses, and detailed litigation between Dream Dinners and a group of franchisees alleging the firm misrepresented the potential value of the franchises, and improper disclosure to potential franchise buyers.
In 2010, all litigation surrounding the franchise disputes was settled out of court. The trade magazine Franchise Times ran a detailed article in their November/December 2010 issue outlining the outcome and history of the complex case, which included attorney liability allegations. According to that article, “…sources have stated is was the attorneys and law firms that stepped in to take responsibility for the settlement payments.”
References
External links
- Dream Dinners Official Website.
- Dinners for Life Diabetes friendly meal assembly menu from Dream Dinners
- Make-Your-Own-Meal Stores Get Busy People Cooking KUOW 94.9 Puget Sound public radio news highlight on Dream Dinners
- Gourmet Stockpiling Article written by Time Magazine
Categories:- Food companies of the United States
- Companies based in Washington (state)
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