Meal assembly business addresses the demise of family dinners
Tampa, Fla. - Marni Poe treasures family dinners in her household.
It's hard to blame her.
On most evenings, Poe's husband and two young daughters convene around the dinner table, feast on fresh-cooked meals like Chicken Roulades with Asparagus Tips and indulge in pleasant conversation.
Most busy families wish the same was happening in their own kitchens. Recent studies indicate that 87 percent of parents believe that it is "very important" or "extremely important" to eat together as a family.
But many are too overwhelmed with late work hours, after-school activities and other demands that overlap with family dinnertime.
For Poe, a fulltime attorney, the process of preparing meals and bringing her entire family to the dinner table at once used to be burden, too.
Dinnertime consisted of two shifts in the Poe household and required her to prepare separate meals for her daughters and husband most days of the week.
But all that has changed since she and longtime friend Melissa Slack launched a food assembly business in Tampa in 2004.
At Let's Eat!, the mission is to simplify the dinner preparation process by eliminating the planning, shopping and clean-up involved in making fresh-cooked meals. Customers can assemble eight to 12 meals wholesome meals in less than two hours inside a 14-station commercial kitchen equipped with all the ingredients, cooking utensils and packing material needed to make family-sized entrees and carry them home.
"Before Let's Eat!, I just wasn't able to put dinner on the table in time for all of us to eat together," she said. "Our little ones were eating the usual macaroni and cheese or spaghetti at 6 p.m., and my husband and I were sitting down to dinner after the kids were in bed. I am now able to put a wonderful dinner on the table for my entire family."
Across the nation, the demise of family dinners is being blamed for the rise in obesity, drug abuse, behavioral problems, promiscuity, eating disorders and poor school performance in children.
Slack says those are the statistics she and Poe had in mind when establishing their meal assembly shop.
"We want to help bring your family back to the dinner table because eating together can benefit the entire family," she said. "These days, getting the whole family around the dinner table at the same time can require the scheduling prowess of an air traffic controller. But studies show eating dinner together nightly is associated with happier marriages and stronger family ties. Sharing pleasant conversation around the dinner table can also help improve a child's social skills. Family meals are the perfect time to teach kids good manners and to model appropriate table etiquette."
Fran Mikuta, the first Let's Eat! franchisee, bought into the concept for that very reason.
"My husband and I feel that dinner time is the most important time of day for communication with each other and with our kids," she said. "We both grew up in homes where dinner was the only time of day that we could all be together. It was a time that we could talk with our parents about what happened at school, the bus stop or on the playground."
A handful of studies also have suggested that eating as a family improves children's consumption of fruits and vegetables, grains, fiber and vitamins and minerals. Kids who regularly eat with their families tend to have healthier eating patterns.
Poe has first-hand proof.
"My husband and I have been amazed at how much better our girls are eating," she said. "They want to eat what Mommy and Daddy are eating, even if it's Crab Bisque soup. I used to think I had picky eaters, but they just didn't want to eat macaroni & cheese and hot dogs."
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Media Contact:
Krista Zilizi
Quantified Marketing Group
407-936-1010
kzilizi@quantifiedmarketing.com
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