Orlando, Fla. - Until recently, there was a familiar dilemma plaguing the Westbrook household.
Deborah Westbrook couldn't always prepare fresh, wholesome meals her family would love. With a part-time job, two active daughters and volunteer and civic leadership positions, Westbrook didn't have time to be a gourmet chef.
On too many occasions, dinner became an afterthought. Westbrook rotated between pizza, fast food or roasted chicken from the deli.
But dinner in the Westbrook household has transformed into the most anticipated activity of the day since Westbrook bought into a meal preparation business called Let's Eat!
These days, Westbrook, her husband, Keith, and daughters Kayla and Lindsey, enjoy savory dishes like chicken mirabella, lobster ravioli, herb-crusted pork tenderloin and beef stroganoff.
The best part: every meal portion is tailored to each family member's likes and dislikes.
"Before this, I felt like I was cooking the same thing all the time, "she said. "But Let's Eat has so much variety in the menu, between chicken, pork and seafood, and you can leave out an ingredient your kids don't like in their portion and include it in the adults' portions."
Founded in Tampa, Florida by Marni Poe and Melissa Slack, Let's Eat! is like a combination of an immaculately designed commercial kitchen and a TV cooking show set that includes food preparation stations with all the ingredients, utensils and accessories customers need to assemble their meals from a Let's Eat! menu that changes monthly.
In a two-hour session, customers can make eight to 12 dinners, all of which can be frozen and cooked later. Most of the meals are entrees, but each month there are also side items and dessert features. Each dish serves four to six people at $3.05 per serving. For singles and empty-nesters, entrees can be split into two meals per recipe.
Salad dressings, dipping sauces, bruschetta toppings, pasta, fresh bread and a limited selection of wine are also sold at Let's Eat!
Just as exceptional cuisine is an important element of the Let's Eat! concept, so is simplicity. Customers register for day or evening, weekday or weekend sessions at www.letseatdinner.com.
"At Let's Eat!, we want you to relax and enjoy yourself," she said. "We've done all the shopping, chopping and the clean up. You return home with two week's worth of meals for your family, and we've saved you about 20 hours of work."
The Let's Eat! Web site offers in-depth information on what to expect. A Let's Eat! team member walks customers through the process before each session. While Let's Eat! offers customers the convenience of Internet registration, Westbrook's store is happy to accept orders over the phone or in person. For an additional charge, a Let's Eat! team member can also assemble meals and deliver them to a customer's home.
Westbrook's 1,300-square foot Let's Eat! shop, located in the Marketplace at Dr. Phillips off Della Drive, is the first in Central Florida.
But time-pressed and cooking-shy consumers have embraced the concept with such fervor on Florida's west coast that a second corporate-owned store in Tampa and two franchise locations in St. Petersburg and Clearwater have opened this year. Let's Eat! plans to have 294 franchised locations within five years.
For Westbrook, Let's Eat! has simplified the dinner-making process, put healthier and tastier food on her dinner table, and saved her valuable time and energy.
But she also plans to use the business concept to raise money for public education. Westbrook plans on becoming a Partner in Education with local schools.
Each month, one local school will receive $10 for every session a parent or friend of the selected school books at Westbrook's Let's Eat! store. Parents and friends of that school also receive a $10 discount toward their session.
"I want to help other families answer the question, 'What's For Dinner?' she said. "Today our kids have access to so many activities, but it has taken my family and others away from the dinner table. I want to help bring back the most common family ritual and give parents more quality time with their kids."
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